"Dr. N and the patient both understood what might happen next. Discharge could mean transfer to the Broadview Detention Center, a facility widely feared in immigrant communities and known to physicians and attorneys for documented allegations of abuse and inhumane conditions. (Dr. N shared her story on the condition that her full name not be used due to fear of repercussions from her employer.)"
"Seeing the agents, Dr. N felt the tension. Her parents had immigrated to the United States from Iran, and during Operation Midway Blitz agents had once stopped her, she believes, for appearing Hispanic. But when she entered the exam room, her own unease receded as the patient's anxiety filled the space. With the help of an interpreter, she examined his injuries and made a deliberate decision."
"She admitted him to the hospital. The diagnosis Dr. N entered-possible pneumonia-provided justification, but it was not the reason she admitted him. She felt responsible for the patient's future, so she made up a diagnosis to orchestrate an admission. Dr. N figured that immigration agents could not simply wait in the hallway. She hoped they would leave."
Immigration agents brought a 29-year-old Venezuelan man into a Chicago emergency room with visible injuries while four armed agents stood outside the exam room. Discharge could have meant transfer to the Broadview Detention Center, a facility associated with documented allegations of abuse and inhumane conditions. A physician admitted the patient and entered a diagnosis of possible pneumonia to justify hospitalization, deliberately creating the diagnosis to prevent immediate detention or transfer. The immigration agents left after the admission. Immigration enforcement has increasingly entered exam rooms, forcing physicians to choose between compliance and maintaining medical integrity and patient safety.
Read at Slate Magazine
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