A man lying on a berth in New York City with a gun wound, holding next to him.
She said that Emily Burgard, a social worker who received supplies to the homeless through her non -profit, and withdrew her phone, is preparing to call 911. But the man begged her not to make a call.
“No, no, no,” he said, told her in Spanish that he would be deported.
Mrs. Borgard tried to explain that federal law requires hospitals to treat him, regardless of his position in immigration, but he was terrified.
He said, “If I go to the emergency department, this will put me on their radar,” she remembers in an interview that prohibits the accident.
Throughout the country, doctors, nurses and social workers are increasingly anxious that people with serious medical conditions, including injuries, chronic diseases, and pregnancy at risk, abandon medical care for fear of arresting immigration officials. Since the Trump administration announced plans to collectively deport Eliminate Biden’s reign policy that protects spaces such as hospitals, medical clinics and churches from the application of immigration, doctors said they have witnessed sharp increases in the patient’s concern and setting non -attendance rates.
Healthcare officials say the trend is continuing, existing The consequences can be long: unnecessary infectious diseases; Extending healthcare costs due to unaccounted chronic diseases; And the complications of dangerous birth for women who are waiting for a long time to seek help, among other things.
in KFF surveyHealth Policy Research Organization, 31 percent of immigrants He said that concerns about the migration state – their or a family member – had negatively affected their health. About 20 per cent of all the poll immigrants said they were struggling with eating and sleeping; 31 percent of stress and anxiety worse.
A White House spokesman did not respond to the messages seeking to comment. When the administration announced that it was ending the protection in hospitals on January 21, a statement issued by the Ministry of Internal Security said that the new policy aims to “impose our immigration laws and capture foreigners.”
Research has shown that the immigration campaign is linked with The most poorest birth results and Mental healthand Laps in careLess number of people Access to public programs That reduces disease and poverty in general.
“We are not really very serious health risks, but also the economic risks of our country,” said Julie Linton, a pediatrician and member of the Federal Affairs Committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics. “These policies create a real fear and uncertainty for people and have a tremendous impact on their ability to work on a daily level.”
Chronic conditions
Many migrant communities suffer from high rates of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, which, if left without treatment, can lead to a heart attack, stroke and other serious complications.
For this reason, doctors worried about patients like Maria, a 47 -year -old woman with pre -diabetes, who was going to the same primary care clinic since her arrival in the United States from El Salvador 20 years ago. Even during the Trump administration’s first immigration campaign, it continued the medical care. But when protection was canceled around hospitals and clinics earlier this year, Maria canceled her appointment to examine blood sugar, a routine and a decisive element in preventing diabetes in patients like her.
“We are very afraid to be in the clinic and the ice arrived while waiting for its summons,” she said in Spanish, referring to the United States for Migration and Customs.
Maria, who asked not to publish her last name, said that she is in a state of “persistent pain”. She said she avoids leaving the house and working on a plan to care for her children, who are American citizens, if she and her husband are deported.
One of their 15 -year -old daughters is treated from fatty liver disease, and the other, 11, needs a treatment for a developmental condition. Their older daughter has another doctor’s date in June. Maria and her husband do not want to boycott her care, but they are concerned about taking her on themselves. “It is very complicated,” said Maria. “I can put myself at the danger of my children. But if it is about my health, I prefer to leave it.”
However, the consequences of giving up regular medical care can turn into dangerously. Jim Mangia, head of the community health network at St. John in Los Angeles, described one patient with diabetes who have stopped appearing to the grade of weekly diabetes teaching. He said that when one of the clinic employees contacted the woman, they discovered that she was afraid to go to the grocery store, and they lived for several days in the tortilla and coffee.
“Thank God we have reached and entered it,” said Mr. Mangia, whose network serves about 25,000 non -documents through more than 20 sites. Tests in the clinic showed that blood sugar has become dangerously high.
“This is what we will see more and more,” said Mangia. “It is a kind of breaking my heart to talk about it.”
Acute care
For doctors working in urgent care settings, the decrease in migrants has become clear through some unusual scales. For example, Dr. Amy Zidane, the emergency room doctor in Atlanta, said that the Spanish -language interpretation requests in the hospital’s emergency department decreased more than 60 percent from January to February.
One of her residents, the Teresa Cheng, said that one of her residents saw a migrant patient who had multiple fractures of the face of the attack, but he did not ask for more than two weeks. “There is a tremendous fear,” said Dr. Cheng.
In late January, Dr. Cheng said, I saw a patient who had a highly treated diabetes. The patient, an undocumented woman, said that she waited for help because she was afraid. She died that day.
Dr. Carolina Miranda, a bronx family doctor, talked about a refugee patient, but for fear of ice, he failed to appear to appoint a doctor about a potential brain tumor.
Dragments or similar cancellation arise between pregnant women and new mothers, according to generation specialists across the country. Dr. Ketlin Bernard, the gynecologist in Indiana, said that a patient has exceeded her visit after birth, explaining that she will not leave her home. In the seed hall at San Diego Hospital, many employees said they had seen a decrease overnight after the opening in the number of immigrant women coming with severe cases during pregnancy.
“It is clear that these women are still present,” said one of the doctors, who asked not to know her because her employer prevented her from speaking publicly in this regard. “I am afraid to increase the mother’s deaths over time.”
Children’s health
Many children of migrant fathers who have crossed appointments or left non -full medicines are American citizens. But in mixed families, parents who are at risk of deportation do not often want to go to the clinic or pharmacy.
The pediatrician at a health center concerned with the disadvantaged residents on the Central Coast in California has informed a 30 percent increase in the lack of attendance at the dates of children. The pediatrician, who was asked to get to know him because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that many who bring their children, and they are referred to another place for specialized care, such as speech therapy, or autism assessment, saying they are very afraid.
Dr. Tania Kabaliro, a pediatrician at Jones Hopkins, who sees patients in a health center for the deprived groups called the Medical Timoor, said that she faced parents who did not want to go with their children to the emergency room for fear, and parents of children with chronic cases such as brain prayers, asthma and asthma of the type who told them that they stopped them in obtaining care Vitality.
She said, “I tell the patients, I cannot control what is happening outside my area, and I cannot control if someone enters my area, but you know me. I have tools, and I want to help you move on this trip and do this together.”
Some parents of children hope in other harsh situations – such as those who receive cancer treatment – will protect them from their child’s condition already. Some pediatricians asked letters explaining their children’s medical requirements, hoping that immigration officials who held them were convinced that the child needs to stay in the United States to survive.
Dr. Lisa Join, a pediatrician in South Florida serves families from Throughout the Caribbean Sea and South America, she said that the attendance rate of the retreating patient is especially concerned because patients lack the childhood vaccines needed to prevent diseases such as measles, pneumonia and whooping cough.
Dr. Join also feels anxious that without coming to see her, children who have suffered from a severe shock before coming to the United States are not associated with social workers or psychologists who can help.
She said: “Imagine your children who live in a house that is afraid of everyone, and they came to this country so that they do not feel fear anymore.” “We know that stress does not exercise well for health.
A dilemma for hospitals
Some medical facilities said They will comply With immigration officials. NYU Langone sent, in New York City, a Memorandum for employees Warning them against trying to protect illegal immigrants. But many other health centers and organizations Finding ways to take a positionTell the employees to show “knowledge of your rights” on the walls and not to register the state of immigration in the patient’s medical records. “
Last week, New England Magazine for Medicine Publish an article By two doctors and lawyers explain how doctors can continue to provide health care and legal payment in the face of some ice requests.
The St. John Clinic Network in Los Angeles recently launched an ambitious program for a home visit, as the doctor, nurses, and medical assistant for patients are visited where they live to take exams and provide medicines. They aim to inform all 25,000 patients of their patients who are not documented by this option.
In New York, the Hospital Association Proposal Appointing the “Hospital Communication” that can be established to quickly enter an agent in a private office, then request a signed order, which will be reviewed after that by internal advisers.
In the Emergency Chamber of the University Hospital, a safety network in Newark is attached, employees distribute cards, in Spanish languages and other languages, to remind patients of their rights. “You have the right to refuse to agree to immigration or the police to search for yourself, your car or your home,” the state.
But even there, fear is clear. Anali Baker, an emergency doctor, said that she had seen a young woman who said her partner hit her until she was unconscious. She was covered with boredom and bruises, and she waited for hours to come. The given reason: I was terrified that her partner would be deported.
Dr. Baker also dealt with a minor who was stabbed; I needed his parents’ approval of his treatment, but the boy was lagging behind any details about them, and for fear that they might be arrested in the Dragnet for Immigration.
However, people who never come ever chase Dr. Baker more than others.
“The tragic message of these people is: Be a shadow and I hope you will not die.”
Sarah Cliff The reports contributed.
