Shriners Parade 06/21/03

After the first few years as a paramedic, and hundreds of patients, I no longer routinely followed up on the progress of patients after transporting them to a hospital, but this kid was special for some reason. He was the member of his family on the scene who spoke English, and he was able to provide me with all of the information I needed. Since this was a rural area almost an hour from the nearest hospital, and helicopter transports were not available to us at that time, we had time to talk.

The hospital staff took an interest in him, as well. I would stop by to visit him in the ICU after delivering patients to the emergency department, and often I would find nurses and other staff members from the hospital visiting with him.

The plan was for him to be transferred to Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, and as the director of the ambulance service I was with, I had volunteered to do the transport without charge.

Then, one day I stopped in and his room was empty. Did they find someone else to transport him? No, as it turned out, Driscoll refused to take him, according to the ICU staff, because he was not a United States citizen. On the same day that treatment was denied by Driscoll, his deportation was put on the fast track, and he was transported back to Mexico.

His was not the most gruesome call that I responded to in more than 20 years as a paramedic, but it is the one that bothered me the most. In Mexico, without any money, it is unlikely that his was a good outcome. He would be almost thirty now, and I suspect that his has not been a good life.

Continued ...