4um: Moral dilemma. Would you deport his kid back to Mexico w/o medical care?

LOS ANGELES - Ana Puente was an infant with a liver disorder when her aunt brought her illegally to the United States to seek medical care. She underwent two liver transplants at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center as a child in 1989 and a third in 1998, each paid for by the state.

But when Puente turned 21 in June, she aged out of her state-funded health insurance and the ability to continue treatment at UCLA.

This year, her liver began failing again and she was hospitalized at County-USC Medical Center, affiliated with the University of Southern California. In her Medi-Cal application, a USC doctor wrote, "Her current clinical course is irreversible, progressive and will lead to death without another liver transplant." The application was denied.

The county gave her medication but does not have the resources to perform transplants.

Late last month Puente learned of another, little-known option for patients with certain healthcare needs. If she notified US Citizenship and Immigration Services that she was in the country illegally, state health officials might grant her full coverage through Medi-Cal, the state health services assistance program for the poor. Puente did so, her benefits were restored, and she is awaiting a fourth transplant at UCLA.

Puente's case highlights two controversial issues: Should illegal immigrants receive liver transplants in the United States and should taxpayers pick up the cost?

The average cost of a liver transplant and first-year follow-up is nearly $490,000, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Donor livers are in scarce supply. In California, nearly 3,700 people are on a waiting list for livers, according to the network. Last year, more than 90 percent were given to US citizens.

Donor livers generally are allocated through a geographic-based distribution system on the basis of how sick the patients are and how long they have been on the transplant waiting list. Immigration status does not play a role in allocating organs. But some people say that it should.

"All transplants are about rationing," said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, which favors stricter controls on immigration. "I just don't think the public ought to be funding any kind of benefits for people who are breaking the law."

Larry Gonzalez, a US citizen who has hepatitis C, has known for a decade that he needs a new liver but was placed on the transplant waiting list only last week.

"Why do we have to get in line behind immigrants, foreigners, when we have enough people here to fill the hospitals?" said Gonzalez, 54, who lives in Ventura.

But Dr. Michael Shapiro, vice chairman of the ethics committee for the organ sharing network, said illegal immigrants have just as much right to receive organ transplants as US citizens. He said it is likely that more illegal immigrants donate organs than receive them. "People are people, and when you make an incision in an organ donor, you don't find little American flags planted on their organs," Shapiro said.

Illegal immigrant children with certain severe, chronic illnesses are eligible for funding under a state program. But the coverage ends when they turn 21.

State health officials said California law is designed so there is no gap in coverage, so children move seamlessly from state-funded treatment to county care. But that doesn't always happen. When they become adults, patients like Puente often must switch doctors and hospitals and might lose access to necessary medical care.

That break can be life-threatening. "It doesn't matter if I'm undocumented," Puente said. "They should take care of me at UCLA for the rest of my life because I've been there since I was a baby."

I feel bad for the girl. She didn't come here illegally by her own choice, her aunt brought her. If, and only if, the doctors think another transplant would make a long-term difference for this girl then I think she should get another one. But if the doctors think her chances of rejecting it again are high, then there is really no sense in trying again.

When one learns about basic magic, as in "being a magician" who performs on stage and does illusions to entertain people, one of the first things you learn about is the art of "misdirection". Waving one hand around to draw attention to it while your other hand does something to facilitate the illusion you are performing.

This story strikes me as a classic case of corporate media misdirection. Sure, this story is outrageous, yes the taxpayers are being ripped off, yes she should be deported immediately and Mexico should be compelled to take care of her. No argument there.

But now let's compare the total tax burden this person represents as compared to the wholesale looting of our treasury by various Wall Street firms. The fact that the discount window has been opened up for Wall Street financial firms who are raiding our treasury for TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS A DAY. Yes, that's right, TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. A. DAY.

Maybe we could take a look at what our glorious misadventure in Iraq is costing us? Oh, I'm sure it's only cost about THREE TRILLION DOLLARS so far. Hey, how about that announcement Donald Rumsfeld made late in the afternoon of September 10, 2001? The one where he announced the Pentagon could not account for 2.1 TRILLION, yes, TRILLION dollars of taxpayer money?

Then add in the "No Bid" contracts that have been handed out to Halliburton and Blackwater and other well-connected cronies of our glorious corporatist military/media/government/corporate complex. Billions upon billions, trillions upon trillions, as corporate pigs squeal and oink and wallow in their ill- gotten gains stolen from the sweat and labor of the rest of us.

But anyways, go ahead and get upset and huff and puff about the outrage of this girl and taxpayers being compelled to pay for her care. Yes, it's wrong, I won't argue that. But it's kind of like getting upset over a hangnail when someone just cut your heart out and is eating it in front of your face, and laughing at you while doing so.

yes, but multiply her by tens of millions. granted, most illegals don't need transplants, but we shouldn't be paying for even a hangnail of an illegal.

Very true, but also keep in mind why they are here in the first place: Corporatist legislation like NAFTA that made it impossible for them to make a living in their home countries, and Corporatist intervention in our legal process that virtually eliminated prosecution of those who hire these illegals. Getting upset with the illegals here is like getting upset with the bullets that hit you in a firefight, and refusing to become angry with the bastards firing the guns at you.