Update (Feb. 17, 2014): Feds Report No Plans To Deport Comatose Exchange Student
Comatose exchange student Muhammad Shahzaib Bajwa may be allowed to stay in a Duluth, Minn.-based hospital after all.
On Friday, a spokesman with the U.S. State Department said the U.S. government is not refusing to extend the exchange student’s temporary visa, which is the reason why an Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center spokeswoman said the medical facility was being forced to deport the patient back to Pakistan on Feb. 28.
“We are working closely with the family as they determine next steps, and have ensured that the student remains in status while they work through these difficult decisions,” said State Department spokesman Mark Thornburg.
Lori Saroya, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations applauded the State Department’s decision and said “There has been more progress made in this tragic case in one week than in the past three months combined due to overwhelming support from the community.
“This is clearly a turning point and we hope there will be more positive news to come, including Mr. Bajwa’s full recovery.”
Though the family has reportedly been given verbal assurances Shahzaib Bajwa won’t be deported, CAIR-MN reports they are still waiting for details from the State Department.
A Minnesota-based hospital made a controversial announcement on Tuesday when the medical facility announced it planned to deport a comatose Pakistani man it has been caring for since November back to his home country.
Muhammad Shahzaib Bajwa, 20, has been at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, Minn., since a car he was riding in struck a deer on Nov. 13 along Interstate 35.
Shahzaib Bajwa was in the U.S. as part of a student exchange program. He was studying anthropology and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, which is about six miles from Duluth.
Shahzaib’s brother, Shahraiz Bajwa, said his brother suffered severe facial fractures from the accident, specifically when the deer’s antlers crashed through the windshield.
Though Shahzaib was conscious and talking when he arrived at a hospital in Cloquet, Minn., things shortly turned worse when he began to choke on blood and went into cardiac arrest.
After he was resuscitated, Shahzaib was transferred to Essentia.
The 20-year-old reportedly suffered major brain damage from the heart attack, since going into cardiac arrest blocked oxygen from flowing into his brain. Shahzaib has remained in coma since the accident.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune, reported that Shahzaib can now open his eyes, squeeze his mother’s hand, shrug his shoulders and slightly move his legs. However, doctors say that Shahzaib will need at least a few more years to recover. The doctors say they are not entirely sure how extensive the damage is yet.
Despite his ongoing medical troubles, Essentia spokeswoman Maureen Talarico said Shahzaib has to leave the hospital once his three-month student visa expires on Feb. 28, since he won’t be able to stay in the country legally.
While Talarico and other hospital staff recognize “this is an unfortunate situation,” she stressed the hospital is making arrangements with the State Department and Shahzaib’s caregivers to transport Shahzaib to Pakistan as smoothly as possible.
Though it may sound harsh to deport foreign citizens to their country of origin while they are still recovering from an illness or medical condition, it is something commonly practiced by hospitals throughout the U.S.
High dosage of deportations
According to a review of hospital practices throughout the U.S. by The Associated Press, hospitals typically foot the bill for these “medical repatriations” flights without consulting any courts or federal agencies first.
Last year, two U.S.-based nonprofit groups released a report detailing some of the more than 800 attempted and actual medical deportations in recent years, which included “a 19-year-old girl who died shortly after being wheeled out of a hospital and sent back to Mexico; a car crash victim who died shortly after being left on the tarmac at an airport in Guatemala; and a young man with catastrophic brain injury who remains bed-ridden after being forcibly deported to his elderly mother’s hilltop home in Guatemala.”
The nonprofits, The Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall University School of Law, and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, said this was concerning since “Medical deportations will likely increase as safety net hospitals, which provide the majority of care to undocumented and un- or underinsured patients, encounter tremendous financial pressure resulting from dramatic funding cutbacks under the Affordable Care Act.”
United Press International reported the ACA reduced funding to safety net hospitals last April, since with the new law, it was expected that some 30 million more people would have health insurance, thereby decreasing a need to pay for uninsured persons visiting the emergency room.
The additional funding for these hospitals won’t be totally absolved until the ACA is fully implemented, but Lori A. Nessel, a professor at Seton Hall University School of Law and director of the School’s Center for Social Justice, says this leaves immigrants at a severe disadvantage legally and financially.
While most families have no choice but to allow their loved one to be deported, Shahzaib’s family is fighting and has refused to sign the consent form to transport him to Pakistan. The family says they are concerned about Shahzaib’s health during a 24-hour flight, medical expenses and lack of access to innovative healthcare technology.
“If we take him back to Pakistan this is certainly pushing him toward death,” Shahraiz Bajwa said. “We don’t want him to die in a miserable condition in a third-world country. It’s better if he stays here.”
The family’s immigration attorney, Saiko McIvor, said the family is looking at ways to legally keep Shahzaib in the U.S., at least for now.
“It’s a really, really sad situation,” McIvor said, explaining that Shahzaib Bajwa’s family lives in Faisalabad, Punjab province, and is not wealthy, so they’d have trouble paying for his care in Pakistan.
Disturbing trend
“When immigrants are in need of ongoing medical care, they find themselves at the crossroads of two systems that are in dire need of reform — healthcare and immigration law,” Nessel said.
“Aside from emergency care, hospitals are not reimbursed by the government for providing ongoing treatment for uninsured immigrant patients. Therefore, many hospitals are engaging in de facto deportations of immigrant patients without any governmental oversight or accountability. This type of situation is ripe for abuse.”
Rachel Lopez, an assistant clinical professor with CSJ, agreed medical deportations need to be addressed.
“The U.S. is bound to protect immigrants’ rights to due process under both international law and the U.S. Constitution,” Lopez said.
What Lopez is referring to is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which requires hospitals to treat all patients present for emergency care, regardless of ability to pay, immigration status or other accidental demographic features. But the law says nothing about caring for a patient once stabilized.
“Hospitals are becoming immigration agents and taking matters into their own hands. It is incumbent on the government to stop the disturbing practice of medical deportation and to ensure that all persons within the country are treated with basic dignity.”
Thus far, Shahzaib’s medical expenses have reached about $350,000.
The Islamic Center of Twin Ports reports that USAID insurance and auto insurance paid Bajwa’s medical costs until mid-December. Since then Essentia has covered the expense under its compassionate care policy.
Who will cover Shahzaib’s rehabilitation expenses and reconstruction surgery remains unknown at this time, but the Islamic Center did hold a fundraiser earlier this month to help cover expenses.
Though the fate of Shahzaib Bajwa remains unknown, his case reflects what many human rights advocates view as a troubling trend throughout the country, and they have called for legislative action to protect immigrants.
“Any efforts at comprehensive immigration reform must take into account the reality that there are millions of immigrants with long-standing ties to this country who are not eligible for health insurance,” said Shena Elrington, director of the health justice program at NYLPI.
“Because health reform has excluded these immigrants from its reach, they remain uninsured and at a heightened risk of medical deportation.
“Absent legislative or regulatory change, the number of forced or coerced medical repatriations is likely to grow as hospitals face mounting financial pressures and reduced Charity Care and federal contributions,” Elrington said.