Folks coming into the USA to have babies

prmenrs, RN · Dec 28, 2009

It happens about every hour or so in this area (so. cal). A lot come w/cash in hand to pay, or have made arrangements before hand to pay. If they come to the hospital in labor, you have to admit and deliver them, and provide advanced care if needed. It's illegal not to.

Is it fair? Could be debated (and Heaven knows it HAS been) for years. I refuse to waste my mental energy even thinking about it anymore. If I did get exercised over this situation, I would need to look for work somewhere it doesn't happen too often or be miserable, and there's no point to being aggravated needlessly since the politics of this is way over my paygrade. I go to work and take care of any baby they put in front of me. W/ as minimal judgement as I can manage.

JMHO!

I do get ticked when a private peds makes a treatment decision based on how it will be paid for. And it's annoying when an ex-premie has to stay in the hospital for a really looong time because they are still having "events", and they cannot be sent home on a monitor because they live across the border.

elkpark · Dec 28, 2009

I've read magazine articles in the past (and I no longer have any idea where or when, so have no links) discussing that a lot of well-off families in the various Far Eastern countries do this -- take a vacation to the US so that the infant will be born in the US and be a citizen -- in sort of the same way that lots of people in the US used to give a US Savings Bond as a baby gift, just as a sort of insurance for the future, so that the kid will always have the option of living/working in the US if s/he chooses to use it.

I'm a classic lefty bleeding-heart about most things, but the whole citizenship thing is one area I'm just fed up with. I truly believe that it's time to amend the Constitution (and that's what it would take) so that simply being born on US soil is not enough to make you a citizen -- I think that at least one parent should have to be a US citizen.

prmenrs, RN · Dec 29, 2009

That is an area of the issue w/which I am not familiar. I just see the garden variety border stuff. And I make an effort not to know too much about each particular patient in the financial dept, unless it becomes necessary.

chescat58, RNC-NIC · Dec 29, 2009

Interesting replies, we are seeing a lot - folks who come here and who do not have the money to pay. I agree, I think that one parent should be a US citizen for the baby to become one.

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Jan 2, 2010

Ironically enough, I see more paying undocumented families than the consanguinous US citizen Orthodox Jewish families who know how to work the system to qualify for Medicaid as a married couple with 12 kids...

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jan 2, 2010

Ironically enough, I see more paying undocumented families than the consanguinous US citizen Orthodox Jewish families who know how to work the system to qualify for Medicaid as a married couple with 12 kids...

Work the system?

Just about everyone in this rural area, and we have very few Jews, has their children courtesy of Medicaid.

prmenrs, RN · Jan 2, 2010

This thread could take a turn toward stereotyping. Please...

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Jan 2, 2010

Agreed. My bad. The point I intended to make is that undocumented immigrants are not the only ones receiving some free healthcare.

elkpark · Jan 2, 2010

I didn't think that the OP's point was at all about people receiving free healthcare, but citizens of other countries (regardless of their financial status) choosing to have their babies in the US.

NICUDad · Jan 3, 2010

It's almost a loaded question, isn't it? Working in a Texas NICU, we get many parents coming across the border into the US to have their babies, in addition to many illegal immigrants already here having their babies here as well. Plain and simple, it is an abuse of our healthcare system, and a drain on taxpayer money.

That said, as someone mentioned above, it is illegal to turn away a patinet, in this case, a mother in labor. Part of my job is to admit NICU babies when they are born. I have special admission privileges to do so, so that critical infants are admitted STAT, so that optimal care can be given the second they enter the NICU. Nothing is worse than having to wait for admissions to put in an ICU infant. I see graphics on these patients all the time.

No SS#
No known address
No phone numbers
No prenatal care
False names and addresses
Spouses who aren't actual spouses

It's a mess at times. For these reasons, I have a hard time saying, "Yes, it's okay for these parents to cross the border to have their babies." Might they receive better care here? Maybe. Is the care of the baby the ultimate important factor, regardless of parents and how they came here? Sure. Arguements can be made either way, but it still doesn't mean it's right.

To address the issue of people coming in and paying cash, and doing everything by the book, because they believe the US will provide the best care for their baby...I am totally fine with that. So long as there are no loose ends untied, payment is handled appropiately, and entry to the country for the birth is legally approved, by all means, I am fine with that.

But I am but one tiny person. One small NICU staff member. Tread lightly on this subject. Like I said before, it is a loaded question :)

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jan 3, 2010

Well, a lot of people, here legally or not, want their children to be born here. There are a lot of advantages to American citizenship.