Illegal Alien- frustrated!

Nurses General Nursing

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Please don't flame me. This is the only place I can comw to to vent and get some ideas on how to get myself back on track. I work with people who are immunosuppressed. I have a particular client who is receiving lots of money in health care and medication as well as assistance with rent and utilities. She is hispanic, provided a Socical Security number and a signed supporter statement from her husband. Now it turns out husband is undocumented and their income comes from him fixing cars off the books. They have not filed a tax return EVER. This family also receives almost $400.00 a month in food stamps plus a few hundred in WIC. My problem? It hacks me off that they are getting all these benefits and don't pay taxes. It makes me feel like a bad person but it is really hacking me off. Every time I turn around there is this client with their hand out. They have this letter written in Spanish that says "I so an so make such and such each month". This has been taken by not only our agency but others as well. We would not even think about taking such a document from a Caucasian or African American person. I certainly do not want someone to go without help but it aggravates me when I have to assist this person at the expense of the next one, who might be a citizen! I am sure other nurses deal with this. I am looking for a good way of thinking about this. Thanks!

Racist? I don't think so. You forget that many of our ancestors came here from other countries and some are 1st generation immigrants. But they got here lawfully, dealt with the frustrations of the immigration processes, and worked, learned the language and paid taxes.

It's a slap in the face for those who, even today, have to go through those frustrations to obtain legal residence and citizenship to watch thousands if not millions of people cross the border and demand the same rights as those of the people who worked so hard to obtain them legitimately.

Wrong!! I don't think our ancestors came here legally. This land belonged to the Indians. Simple American History--This is a land of immigrants. They drove the Idians away from their legal land--and I don't think this was done legally.

In the United States we do not have an official language and even U.S. citizens sometimes speak languages other than English.

So many of the posts in this thread sicken me. Of course people are entitled to their opinions but so many of the opinions I see here are ill-informed and based on prejudice and hysteria.

"ILLEGALS" are the new bogeymen, a scapegoat invented by fear-mongering politicians to deflect attention away from the fact that they are doing NOTHING to fix the broken healthcare system in our country. Our politicians are in the pockets of the healthcare and pharmaceutical companies. How convenient it is for them to see us so consumed with the "Illegal Immigrant Invasion" instead of focusing on their corruption and greed. If they spent one minute in Washington DC working on a national healthcare strategy for every 10 minutes they spend blaming illegal immigrants for every problem in America, we'd be a long ways toward a solution to the healthcare crisis.

If you truly think that offering free care to poor people, whether legal or not, is bankrupting the system then I have a bridge in Manhatten I'd like to sell you. Ask yourself why, if hospitals are being "bankrupted" by illegals, healthcare executives are walking away with millions upon millions in annual bonuses. Ask yourself why so few are profiting so richly from our healthcare system while Americans get fatter and sicker every year. Ask yourself why America lags behind every other Western nation in terms of our healthcare system. Healthcare for profit is immoral.

Try walking into any other county without documention and saying you want to live there for free, get free education and healthcare without having to pay for it and see how far you get.

Wrong!! I don't think our ancestors came here legally. This land belonged to the Indians. Simple American History--This is a land of immigrants. They drove the Idians away from their legal land--and I don't think this was done legally.

Yes, a couple of hundred years ago that was correct. It's done. We cannot undo that. We can't undo the fact that slavery was once legal. But we live by today's laws, like it or not. And within the confines of today's laws you must apply to become a legal resident. Otherwise, you are here illegaly and should not have the same rights as those who do obey those laws.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
silly me, i thought nurses were supposed to be compassionate. i'll have to watch for the questions on checking for a persons greencard before giving them treatment when i take the boards this spring. you have really opened my eyes!! i was foolishing hoping to work with people who cared about others, regardless of where they come from or the language that they speak. that is my possition, anyway, i'm looking forward to caring for people- only of my own race..... the human one.

nurses are compassionate. we're also taxpayers, citizens, and individuals with politics, belief systems, experiences and ideas of our own. your post is coming across as rather "holier than thou." i understand that you aren't a nurse yet and are very idealistic, but i'm guessing you haven't had to deal with a whole lot of folks bilking the system while you're struggling to make ends meet on your earnings. try not to judge the rest of us too harshly until you've walked a mile or two in our shoes.

Try walking into any other county without documention and saying you want to live there for free, get free education and healthcare without having to pay for it and see how far you get.

I am not sure you have gone beyong the borders of this country. For example, some poor African countries provide millions of refugees fleeing from neighbouring war-tone countries with health care and provide the basic needs and they not in the country illegally.

Look at it this way:

You stay in a war-tone country --you die so you have to flee

You stay in a state of poverty, you die and your lifespan is cut by half, the alternative you flee.

War and poverty are both disasters that cause people to flee their homeland, leave their kids and families behind without any hope of ever seeing them again. Hope you are shedding a tear by now and having a change of attitude. If not did deep in your herat and see if you don't have any seeds of racism planted by your ancestors who engaged in slavery.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
first i want to say yes it is wrong to lie and get medicaid or any other assistance. but why did you go into the medical field? i thought that when someone decides to work in the medical field it is to help people (people of any race,from any country any persons in general). i am going into the medical field because i love to help people and to take care of the sick and injured! i think it is wrong to say that someone didn't deserve to get medical treatment in anyway shape or form!!! think about it we all are humans!! honestly i think that everyone needs to take a step back and think about why they became a nurse or a doctor etc. was it because you love taking care of people? or was it for the money? why? so does it really matter how they pay for it? does it matter where they are from?

it doesn't matter how they pay for it if they're paying for it. when i, as a taxpayer am paying for it, i'm entitled to my opinion.

years ago, i took care of an illegal alien who had a heart transplant at the taxpayer's expense. meanwhile, there were lots of folks who were here legally on that transplant list who were passed over. that i had problems with!__________________

ruby

please don't take offense, but i am glad that the people in charge of the transplant list made the decision about who should receive the heart and not you. i hope people make these life-and-death decisions based purely on medical necessity and the likelihood of a successful transplant, not on whether the patient met a citizenship litmus test.

:heartbeat kris

Yes, a couple of hundred years ago that was correct. It's done. We cannot undo that. We can't undo the fact that slavery was once legal. But we live by today's laws, like it or not. And within the confines of today's laws you must apply to become a legal resident. Otherwise, you are here illegaly and should not have the same rights as those who do obey those laws.

That is exactly what the congress is trying to do by passing laws that are fair to both the US and the illegal immigrants--but we have a bunch of people in congress who are against the passing of a comprehensive bill--go figure. Thsy are afraid that soon they will be the minority, but that is going to happen, no matter what!

it doesn't matter how they pay for it if they're paying for it. when i, as a taxpayer am paying for it, i'm entitled to my opinion.
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i am glad you are not a doctor, and i am scared to death even now to think that some nurses who are making life and death decisions think this way. hopefully you won't be tempted to end a patients life by denying them life saving treatment just because they are illegal.

hope we have no doctors with such mentality.

For those of you who despise paying taxes to support "illegals", you might want to take a look at this chart that shows how each of your Federal tax dollars is spent.

http://www.fcnl.org/pdfs/taxday.pdf

The biggest proportion by far ($0.42 of every $1.00) goes to support wars and the military infrastructure. My husband is an Army Reserves officer who spent a year in Iraq, by the way, and I can tell you from experience that very little of that $0.42 goes to help the soldiers pay for healthcare or equipment or anything else that improves their quality of life. The money goes to the Military-Industrial complex, including mega-rich corporations like KBR and Haliburton. These war profiteers are the real threats to the health, happiness and prosperity of normal Americans, not the Illegal Alien Bogeyman.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i know the cost of healthcare is going up because the hospitals are not getting reinbursed for care. i know raises are not what they should be because hospitals are not getting reimbursed for care. i know nurse patient ratios are less than optimal because hospitals are not getting reimbursed for care. i know ancillary services are being cut because hospitals are not getting reimbursed for care. yes everyone is welcome here, but become a legal citizen and learn the language.

i, too, am weary of students judging seasoned nurses. are we better? in some ways, absolutely. our knowledge base and experience far outweighs theirs.

and let me add my two cents. i am weary of the self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitudes that some students seem to have towards seasoned nurses. i'm sure i'll get flamed for this, but it seems that they can call us mean, nasty or lacking in compassion with impugnity. i understand that students tend to be far more idealistic than i am, after years -- decades, really -- in the trenches. but do they understand that i have seen a lot more than they have and may be entitled to my opinions?

unfortunately, it's not just students. there seem to be many here that cannot seem to disagree without casting aspersions on the seasoned nurses they disagree with.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
as a nurse, i avoid looking at the face sheet at the beginning of a patient's chart (that tells about insurance into) and concentrate instead on the person in need before me.

as a private citizen, i grow increasingly frustrated, discouraged, and outraged at the way the healthcare system is being asked to do the impossible and may, at some point, collapse, in part, because of those who misuse or abuse it.

as an allnurses.com member, i grow weary of those who are not in the trenches dealing with this on an everyday basis criticizing the opinions or those who are. behavior is fair game, but opinions and venting are not. if you disagree, state your own opinion and leave it at that. no need to go after anyone else.

as usual, you stated it well and to the point.

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