""It really worries me that fear is causing people not to access health care," one Minneapolis doctor told NPR on the condition that he remain anonymous to protect his patients. "I get really concerned that people ignore acute symptoms, things that they really should be coming in for. Breathing problems, bad abdominal pain." He's worked in the city for more than two decades and says he's never seen anything like the current immigration crackdown and how it is affecting patients."
"The doctor says it's not just medical emergencies that worry him. It's "people missing the management of their chronic conditions. Things like diabetes going untreated for months is going to lead to complications." NPR visited the neighborhood clinic he supervises on the condition that we keep the location and the names of patients and volunteers to varying degrees anonymous, because they fear federal immigration agents will target them."
Intensified immigration enforcement in Minneapolis has reached medical facilities, with ICE officers restraining patients and demanding proof of citizenship. Many patients without legal status and health care providers have established alternate care arrangements. Fear of enforcement is causing people to avoid seeking acute care for symptoms such as breathing problems and severe abdominal pain, and to delay management of chronic conditions like diabetes, risking complications. A neighborhood clinic in an immigrant area is operating anonymously and relies on dozens of volunteer clinicians and safeguards to protect patients and volunteers from federal immigration agents.
Read at www.npr.org
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