Ok, you work in the ER and an illegal comes in with a life threatening wound? What do you do?

Treat them as any other person who walks or i carried in the door. Billing can deal with the other issue.

I think the question is invalid because there is no possible way a hospital employee would know whether or not someone is an "illegal."

Unless the guy says "Oh, I'm an illegal alien, can I be treated here?"

Anyway... I think all humans are the same. I don't care which part of the planet they came from. It shouldn't be possible for a human on earth to be an "illegal" on their own planet.

It's a law that anyone who comes into the ER has to be treated. If there wasn't that law in place, I would turn them away. One less illegal we have to worry about sponging off of our country.

I believe that the doctor has an obligation to help him, as would any human being. How did he get there in the first place? Did he walk/drive himself with a life threatening wound? Did the EMTs drive him in?

As a nurse,I would have to treat them. Even though I do not approve of illegal immigration,I couldn't in good conscience,turn someone away that would die without treatment. Doing so would go against the oath I took when I became a nurse.

Fix it. If the law were changed I'd say fix it and call ICE to deport him.

We don't deny emergency care, but we can keep it from coming back where we have to pay for it if the people don't belong here. Otherwise we are a medical magnet for illegal immigration.

It isn't the people, it is the subsidies and degradation of the services we pay for. How is it fair to make our people pay for them, chronically?

Public hospitals are required by law to treat all who come in, so we should treat him. But we are not required to provide follow-up care.

There are two problems here: 1) Numerous hospitals (especially in California) have closed their doors because they were not paid for the services they provided to illegal immigrants; the closing of a hospital reduces the availability of care for taxpaying citizens; and 2) Some people come here illegally because they know they will receive “free” medical care.

Receiving expensive medical care without paying for it just means somebody else (taxpayers) has to pay for it.

Urban Photos says, “It shouldn't be possible for a human on earth to be an ‘illegal’ on their own planet.” By that logic, a hungry illegal immigrant should be able to go to a restaurant, enjoy an expensive meal, and refuse to pay for it because he/she is a “citizen of the world.”

The do-gooders like Urban would sing a different tune if they were sitting down for dinner with their families and a stranger broke down the door and joined them at the table. If I have to pay for what you take from me, whether it’s medical care or food, you should have to pay me for it. Some of our liberal friends have expanded the concept of “human rights” to include medical care, food, housing. clothing and almost anything else a person could need or want.

Every time one person gets something for nothing, another person works for nothing. Many of the “takers” are quite capable of working to earn their keep, but they choose not to. If we continue to permit them to take but not give, we are encouraging anarchy.

What ERs around the country do every day, which is treat him. They are required by law to do so, or did you not know that?

Provide needed medical treatment.

Treat him -- the U.S. law already requires we do.

Ironically, the U.S. law says we should deport him too...but we don't.

Strange how one is taken so seriously and the other is scoffed at.