Organ Transplant Debacle

[ripdog]

I just heard that the parents of the girl are lining up for their payoff. Since they are illegal aliens, do you think that they ought to be allowed this lawsuit? I think that they should have to cover the cost of the original operation before they're allowed to bring the suit. If they don't come up with the cash and sue, then I would have no problem with them being arrested as they arrive to court and immediately deported. Had the victim of this tradgedy been a convicted serial killer instead of a seventeen year old girl, I'd favor the impending lawsuit. I say kick their asses back to Mexico with zero compensation. I say this after the family of the girl refused to allow her organs to be donated out. I can understand their reluctance to allow this, but at some point the decision would come down to doing the right thing. Any other bleeding heart liberals out there feel the same way I do? I hope this isn't the beginning of my transformation into a dittohead. It really aggravates me that someone who isn't even supposed to be here in the first place can turn around and sue for big bucks. If it comes to fruition, I may jump on the "throw the bastards out" bandwagon.

[IrishHand]

Combining tort reform with actual enforcement of our immigration laws and the world would be a better place.

In this case, I'm with you. Someone who shouldn't be in the country, then receives what is in effect a charitable operation should hardly be able complain that it didn't work out the way she wanted.

[B-Man]

I have to agree with you and (scary as it may be) Irish. If her organs were viable and her family refused to donate them, that is truly contemptible.

I have no problem providing emergency medical care to illegal aliens--to refuse would be immoral--but allowing them to sue for negligence is preposterous. They don't have the right to even be in this country, what makes them think they have the right to avail themselves of our court system? Illegal aliens should not have the same rights as citizens. Otherwise, what is the point of immigration laws?

The story of the the last few weeks of this girl's life is very sad. That does not, however, mean her family should become instant millionaires.

[MMMMMM]

I read that 16 Americans died waiting for transplants on the same day she received new organs. Given this fact, I think her parents should definitely have donated her remaining viable organs (such as kidneys)--and they should have done this whether she was an illegal immigrant or an American citizen. Now maybe in their stress the parents didn't think of this, or maybe they didn't even know that others were dying while awaiting organs. Still, even with a lot of sympathy for the girl, the scenario is somewhat disturbing. Also, a great many doctors are quitting due to insanely high malpractice insurance premiums...in Connecticut premiums rose by 50% in the last year alone...so should illegals be allowed to sue for things like this? I don't know. I do think in general that if we have a classification "illegal alien" it ought to mean something--or as Tom Haley points out, what's the point of immigration laws? We really can't just have an open-door policy where everyone who walks in illegally is entitled to all benefits and protections, to say nothing of the terrorists who are walking in. And INS is simply higjly ineffective when it comes to deportations. Maybe we really should have troops on our borders, and maybe that would help with: 1) illegal immigration 2) preventing terrorists from walking in 3) cutting down on the amount of drugs smuggled into the USA.

[John Ho]

Terrorists don't walk into this country. Unless they can walk on water. If that's the case they do have God on their side.

Drug smuggling is more the fault of the users than the dealers. If there was no demand then people would not go to such crazy lengths to smuggle into our country. A trivial amount of money to many Americans is a fortune to those in poor countries. And no one is forcing Americans to snort coke. A better solution is to legalize drugs rather than continue our futile attempts to stop a product that has an insanely huge profit margin.

People love having illegals cut their grass, wash their dishes, and pick their produce but then they get scapegoated for many problems they have nothing to do with. Like high premiums for malpractice insurance...are illegal aliens putting doctors out of work? No. It's the trial lawyers who want 6 or 7 figures for pain and suffering above and beyond expenses and lost wages. Of course you mention tort reform and 99% of Americans are clueless as to why it's important.

I've got no philisophical problem with tightening our borders with regards to Mexico or Canada. I just doubt it's worth the expense since it's not going to fix anything. Plus the politicians will have to find someone new to scapegoat when things don't go well. Some have made careers out of this topic.

[MMMMMM]

I believe that legalizing drugs would probably be a good idea, as the "war on drugs" seems to be probably unwinnable. Yet if we had troops on our borders for other reasons it would probably cut down the flow of drugs also.

Just a couple of weeks ago they caught two Pakistanis trying to walk in over the Niagara area, carrying in their backpacks items typically used in bomb-making.

[brad]

'Terrorists don't walk into this country. '

well if one in a million illegal immigrants is a terrorist then as many as ten terrorists entered last year, according to federal figures.

[John Ho]

I meant that since they come from the Middle East they probably flew in. It's not about having troops..it's about making sure people don't come in through the cracks in the system. You can put a million soldiers on the border but if a terrorist comes in on a student visa there's nothing you can do about it.

[HDPM]

Why shouldn't the doctor be sued? Should the doctor provide worse care to somebody based on citizenship? Once the doctor takes the case he or she has an obligation to provide the level of care appropriate in the jurisdiction/circumstances. Assuming he breached that standard of care, he should be liable for malpractice. Any damage award for economic loss could be reduced because of alien status I would think. I.E. earning potential should be based on home country etc... But no way should professionals treat people worse because they are illegals. I totally disagree here.

[Mat Sklansky]

There is probably some flaw in my thinking, here. Or it may be a legal impossibility. But it seems right to me that the doctor should be sued for obvious negligence, and that a large portion of the money awarded should go, not to the parents, but to some other cause. Now I'll wait to hear what the problems with this notion are.