South Florida Personal Injury Blog

A hospital in Stuart, Florida was sued recently by a patient’s guardian, says Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorney Andrew Alitowski. Luis Jimenez is a 37-year-old man from Guatemala who arrived in the United States without legal immigration status. He worked as a day laborer and, like many immigrants, sent a portion of his wages to his family at home. In 2000, however, everything changed, Broward injury lawyer Alitowski has learned. Jimenez was riding in a van that was struck by a drunk driver. He was permanently injured, requires long-term care, and has brain damage.

A cousin, Montejo Gaspar, was appointed to be his legal guardian because Jimenez was in no condition to make personal, financial, or medical decisions on his own. Further complicating the family’s problems was the issue of how to pay the looming medical bills. Jimenez lacked both health insurance, a common problem among young, healthy workers in general, but because he did not have immigration status, he was ineligible to receive funds from government programs designed to ease the burden on hospitals that must provide emergency care. Jimenez bounced between facilities, but spent the bulk of his time at Martin Memori al Hospital. There, the doctors and nurses attempted to rehabilitate him as much as possible. Now, Jimenez reportedly has the cognitive skills of a nine-year-old.

Ultimately, the hospital concluded that it was simply unwilling to continue providing care to Jimenez. Over the objections of Gaspar, the hospital sent Jimenez back to Guatemala in a private plane, which was chartered at a cost of approximately $30,000. Gaspar, acting on his cousin’s behalf, was in the process of appealing a court order that allowed the move. He did not consent to his brother’s transport. Gaspar won the appeal, because a state court does not have the authority to make decisions on immigration matters. His cousin, however, was already in Guatemala.

The hospital acted without going through the traditional means of “deportation,” or removal from this country, says Broward accident lawyer Alitowski. The federal government has a system of immigration courts, which are designed to deport undocumented immigrants who have no claim to stay in the United States. However, the immigrants who come before the immigration courts are allowed to present any reason they may have that would allow them to stay. For example, if deportation would mean tremendous hardship to a United States citizen child or if the immigrant has a viable claim for asylum because he was persecuted on the basis of his religion in his home country, the immigrant may be granted lawful status and permitted to remain in the United States. There have even been instances in which a person who had a valid claim to United States citizenship through a parent was put into deportation proceedings. In this instance, Jimenez was afforded no such opportunity to present any reason why he should be allowed to stay.

Now, Jimenez resides with his mother, who is 73 years old, in a home with one room high in the mountains. Her home is 12 hours from the Guatemalan capital and Gaspar believes medical care there will be insufficient. He sued the hospital on his cousin’s behalf, seeking damages for false imprisonment. The six-member jury panel declined to award damages.