SCHAKOWSKY JOINS THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION & MAJORITY IN CONGRESS TO OPPOSE PLAN TO TURN DOCTORS INTO BORDER GUARDS

MAY 18, 2004

SCHAKOWSKY JOINS THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION & MAJORITY
IN CONGRESS TO OPPOSE PLAN TO TURN DOCTORS INTO BORDER GUARDS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Calling it one of the worst thought-out and vicious pieces of legislation to come before Congress in recent years, U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today applauded the resounding defeat of the H.R. 3722, the Undocumented Alien Emergency Medical Assistance bill.

Under this bill, hospitals would be denied federal reimbursement for emergency care unless they collect information about undocumented immigrants and provide such information to the Department of Homeland Security for deportation purposes. Hospital officials would be required to question emergency patients to determine their citizenship, immigration, and financial status; to obtain employer information for transmission to the Department of Homeland Security; and to maintain a file of these records for at least five years.

"This is clearly one of the worst ideas to be presented by the Republican majority. The bill would require doctors and nurses to be part of enforcing Federal immigration laws while threatening the health and well-being of our communities," Schakowsky said.

The bill would establish an expensive, new immigration enforcement program in already underfunded, overburdened community hospitals. Hospitals would be forced to allocate funding for new non-medical equipment and personnel, diverting funds from patient care.

The American Medical Association (AMA) opposes the legislation. According to a statement released by the AMA:

This bill would effectively turn physicians and other health care providers into Border Patrol agents. By requiring physicians to report patients and perhaps withhold necessary care, this bill would, in effect, require physicians to violate the Hippocratic Oath. Finally, by discouraging undocumented individuals from seeking medical care for problems that might cause harm to others, such as communicable diseases, this bill would have very negative effects on existing public health efforts.