Deportation While In Coma

Hey Folks ! Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes this is true, I am posting on Turkey Day. You might be asking yourselves, "why is he posting today? What gives?" Well, interesting story.

I just enjoyed a wonderful meal and was hanging out, enjoying the "food coma." Then I started to think, "where did the term 'food coma' come from. I googled the term and came across an interesting story that caught my eye. This article was in the NY Times regarding a patient, Antonio Torres, who was severely injured in a car crash which left him in coma.

A legal immigrant, Antonio was uninsured. So against the pleas of his parents, Antonio was deported to Mexico - WHILE STILL IN COMA. Here's the article link (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/us/09deport.html?_r=1)

This article floored me. I thought, how is that even possible? Is it legal? That's horrible!

A quote from the article: "There is only limited federal financing for these fragile patients, and no governmental oversight of what happens to them. Instead, it is left to individual hospitals, many of whom see themselves as stranded at the crossroads of a failed immigration policy and a failed health care system, to cut through a thicket of financial, legal and ethical concerns."

I don't usually come across situations where immigration policies are so intertwined with health care policies. I'm definitely not looking hard enough.

This makes me think - this is a huge problem, especially in areas of the United States where there are large populations of legal and illegal immigrants. I wonder, if there was a Universal Health Care system in place in the US, would something like this have still happened?