Quelino Ojeda Jimenez, Quadriplegic Undocumented Immigrant Deported Over Hospital Bills, Dies In Mexico

An undocumented Mexican immigrant deported from Chicago after an on-the-job injury paralyzed him died Sunday while in the care of a small, Mexican hospital unequipped to handle his complications.

Quelino Ojeda Jimenez had been living and working construction jobs in Chicago when he fell 20 feet off a building near Midway Airport in August 2010, sustaining spinal injuries that paralyzed him from the neck down, UPI reports. He was being treated at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn until he was unable to pay his medical expenses. After a heated battle between the hospital and immigration advocates, he was deported on Dec. 22, 2010 to a Mexican hospital in an air ambulance in spite of protests from Ojeda Jimenez and his family.

The one-story concrete facility in Oaxaca where Ojeda Jimenez spent the next year was ill-equipped to handle his extensive medical needs--replacing the filters on his ventilator was too costly, so hospital staff merely cleaned them once a day, according to the Chicago Tribune. After suffering two episodes of cardiac arrest and developing a septic infection, Ojeda Jimenez was transferred to a larger hospital in Juchitan Dec. 19, but succumbed to sepsis and pneumonia in the early morning after New Year's Eve.

Ojeda Jimenez's transfer ignited a debate over immigrant rights that was championed by the Mexican consulate in Chicago, whose head official Joaquín Pastrana attended a Mass held in Ojeda Jimenez's honor at a Logan Square church Sunday, along with other activists, according to Fox News Latino.

In light of Ojeda Jimenez's death, Advocate Health Care issued a statement expressing regret for its handling of his case, and announcing plans to work with advocacy groups to reexamine its policies for treating international patients, according to the Tribune. Ojeda Jimenez told the newspaper in February that he feared returning to Mexico because he "need[ed] a lot of things they don't have," a sentiment echoed by relatives and supporters since his death.

See earlier coverage of the case from Chicago's Spanish-language newspaper, Hoy:

Comments

[miley sucks]

03:29 AM on 02/02/2012

we stole their land from mexico in the mexican-american war. we have no right to kick them out. they were here first

[Bubba Link]

08:18 AM on 01/11/2012

Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn didn't look for the crapyest hospital they could find to send him too. Thats where Mexico put him! They have a lot of wonderfull hospitals in Mexico but they wouldn't take him because he was not covered. He was a Mexican national. Born and raised there. Would you feed someone else befor you feed your own family?

[Ystorm]

11:38 PM on 01/09/2012

I am sorry that this has happened. But its one instance, not many. Its one bad thing, not every time someone goes to a hospital. I do wish that bill gates or one of the other rich people, like warren buffet or someone of that ilk, would have stepped forward to help this guy and his family, however if he was here illegally, that is just as morally offensive to me as the way he died :/

[zbowling]

05:15 AM on 01/11/2012

You're not sorry, you're dismissive.
It's not the responsibility of some rich individual to step up to the plate, it's a societal responsibility to protect the vulnerable from greedy antisocial American Corps. This kid did not fall through some hole that doesn't exist for everyone. Outcomes are determined only his own resources, & are directly proportional to the severity of the issues. Others who need medication for critical health problems/ terminal illnesses die in jail. Some, simply because they can't get their own prescriptions.

Did the employer not pay workmen's compensation, did Ojeda pay FICA taxes, despite not having a green card?
Businesses that hire undocumented immigrants to undercut their expenses cost everyone of us, but its name is not even mentioned!
Make no mistake --This is welfare for the business class. It's moral hazard & increases immigration.
They killed him, then socialized the cost of his inadequate care, deportation to be paid by us or the Mexican State.

We have a class of unprotected persons -- by design, whose treatment is equivalent to slavery.
Antisocial businesses practices cause downward pressure on wages forcing Americans to compete with them.
I'd place a bet Jiminez's replacement is undocumented too. Imagine that: disposable workers. Where's the clamor now against socialism, against welfare for the ownership class?

Businesses lobby for the status quo --very low or no fines. They should adhere to higher standards than if they had hired a US citizen. There is the real comprehensive immigration program. Fine businesses severely, Jail

[blahblah45]

05:12 PM on 01/08/2012

Deporting a tragically sick man is one thing on its own, but what I don't understand is why would they transport him to a facility that does not have the ability to support the man health issues or needs, and when its too late he's sent to a better suited hospital?

[Ystorm]

11:36 PM on 01/09/2012

agreed ...

[John Hazelton Smith]

03:28 AM on 01/11/2012

It doesnt' say that the hospital wasn't suited to handle his needs, it says it was TOO COSTLY to handle them. He didn't have insurance and their public health plan probably couldn't cover the cost of his treatment.

[blahblah45]

02:38 PM on 01/11/2012

From the article, "The one-story concrete facility in Oaxaca where Ojeda Jimenez spent the next year was ILL-EQUIPPED to handle his extensive medical needs--replacing the filters on his ventilator was too costly, so hospital staff merely cleaned them once a day, according to the Chicago Tribune", but also TOO COSTLY.

[Mailman]

09:43 PM on 01/07/2012

Does anyone ever blame Mexico for this crap. These are their people and they are the ones letting them down not America. We have our faults, look at Mexico how they treat their own and there the one who let him die.

[zbowling]

05:22 AM on 01/11/2012

Nice way to transfer responsibility.It seems to be the American way. Blame someone else and then pretend we're the victim. It's the businesses fault who hire illegal aliens for slave wages and then don't pay workmen's comp or for insurance and cut corners on safety. This also make all our wages lower.

[MaryfromIL]

08:25 PM on 01/07/2012

This man was injured because our country encourages companies to hire and abuse illegals financially and physically, by ignoring the situation. As such, he should have received care here. Instead, he was used and tossed out.

Unless the country places more emphasis on going after employers, it won't end. Obama has made a good dent in it, let's pressure politicians to go after these employers as our prime objective. No jobs, illegals will leave.

[Bubba Link]

09:04 PM on 01/07/2012

You can't abuse someone who knows the risks and who put them selves in that situation. He knew he was not going to be covered if he got hurt. And if he didn't get paid well and he took the job any way then that’s just being foolish. He did get help $650,000.00 worth of it! He didn’t pay in to the system but he sure got a good chunk of our taxes. And that was just in six months. That’s more money then most US citizens make in 10 years. So I think he got treated pretty darn well...If you go to any other country and get hurt working as a illegal alien you’re not getting taken care of. Your getting dumped right back where you came from. Answer this question you’re a bleeding heart. Why didn’t Mexico take care of there own citizen? There are plenty of beautiful hospitals in Mexico.

[MaryfromIL]

02:18 AM on 01/08/2012

You certainly can abuse people that are hungry and desperate. The man obviously didn't know the risk he was in. He was hungry, not foolish.

And what is the downside of going after the main perpetrators, the companies that hire people, encouraging them to come here? Or do you love companies, and just dislike the desperate? Much easier to pick on the vulnerable, that is what all bullies do.

[zbowling]

05:25 AM on 01/11/2012

You could apply this logic to the business, and then increase the fines and penalties to actually make it worthwhile to avoid the law.
And you're wrong about other countries. if you go to Venezuela, Cuba or France you will get treated for free.

[Ystorm]

11:49 PM on 01/09/2012

I do believe your facts are really really badly wrong. There are laws against that. Many laws against that.

[MaryfromIL]

12:58 AM on 01/10/2012

Laws gainst companies hiring illegals? I agree, but until recently, they were very poorly enforced.

[TheoArt]

05:11 PM on 01/07/2012

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

[Bubba Link]

06:32 PM on 01/07/2012

And the cow jumped over the moon...

[Ystorm]

11:41 PM on 01/09/2012

and we have ellis island where the immigrants would be quarantined and checked for various illnesses. so if you are here illegally, get out. go home.

[Bubba Link]

04:55 PM on 01/07/2012

OK ROALD here are the facts...
1- You can not be deported for non payment of medical bills... You have to be here illegaly.
2- The Medical cost for the care of a Quadriplegic is between 500,000 and 550.000 a year at any hospital in the USA. Advocate Christ spent $650,000 on Ojeda's medical care..thats a fact...so he got hurt in Aug 2010...he was deported on Dec. 22, 2010. they spent $3,611.00 a day on him.
3- No artical states that he was deported for non payment.
4- Mexico dosn't bother to take care of ther own people. There are plenty of Nice beautifull and well equiped hospitals in Mexico..Why didn't Mexico put him there. Why should we have to foot the bill for thier people? He is ther countrymen a Mexican born national..
5- His bill is still outstanding...so lets pay it...Ill match you dollar for dollar..so it's kind of put up or shut up time...

[Ystorm]

11:41 PM on 01/09/2012

Agreed, fanned, and faved.

[Phila Jeff]

02:35 PM on 01/07/2012

If an American was in the same situation in Mexico do you really think it would have been different? If you can't pay you don't get treated period. Perhaps there should be an agreement between Mexico and America whereby Mexico pays for the health care of their uninsured citizens in the United States.

[Ystorm]

11:45 PM on 01/09/2012

Its not so, actually. Hospitals here in the states have a mandate to care for whomever shows up through their doors. :/ what ticks me off is that how man of those are here illegally.

[jayes]

09:03 AM on 01/07/2012

you can't be deported over hospital bills. where's the integrity?

if this is a heart-bleed issue, you go after the employer.

i wouldn't expect better care if were to, say, squat in japan.

[MaryfromIL]

08:21 PM on 01/07/2012

My daughter got free healthcare in Denmark as a tourist there. You would be surprised and how much more compassionate other first world countries are.

[Goldie Treasure]

02:50 AM on 01/07/2012

So they have no problem sending a very sick man in need of good medical care back to Mexico, but don't bother all the other illegals?

[Karissa36]

09:49 PM on 01/06/2012

Vent dependent quadriplegics have a very high death rate, even with the best of medical care. This man had two heart attacks, which are caused by his condition, not bad filters or bad care. There is really no indication at all he died from bad medical care. Pneumonia is the number one cause of death of all vent dependent quadriplegics in the U.S.

[roald]

02:52 PM on 01/06/2012

I don't agree that he should have been deported to his death, but I do have to ask why he was not immediately placed in a facility that could have seen to his needs and ask where the Mexican consulate was while he was alive in Chicago and fighting deportation.

[roald]

04:48 PM on 01/06/2012

BTW, I meant a facility in Mexico. I realize that no US facility would take him.

[inthedesert]

09:23 AM on 01/06/2012

Interesting story from Yahoo this morning but originally published in the NYT on Jan. 2 regarding the high costs to hospitials of treating illegal immigrants. Medicaid DOES pay for emergency services for illegals but not for continuing care. So hospitals in large metropolitan areas in Texas, California and Florida have no where to send patients who are well enough to leave. This can cost $100,000 per year for the hospital to keep these illegals and the stay is typically 5 years!! "The fact of the matter is that hospitals....are unable to turn away patients who have neither insurance nor proof they are here legally..two things necessary for...reimbursements".

[bobste]

10:07 AM on 01/07/2012

I would also add that this is not just a problem for illegals. It is also a problem for under-insured or uninsured. We all can count on getting treated in an emergency room, but what about anything beyond that? I have these concerns myself, being self-employed. Sure, I have a health insurance policy, but who knows if it will actually cover anything big until it happens. Oh, and don't worry - hospitals are doing just fine.

[mykirbyroo]

07:53 PM on 01/18/2012

Not trying to slam you, bobste, but have you actually read your health insurance policy? Perhaps it might be a good idea to read it so you'll know what it will cover anything big. Maybe you need to get a different policy. The reason the hospitals are doing just fine is because of cost shifting. They overbill those of us with good health insurance to help pay for those with not so good health insurance or no health insurance. So every time I have to be admitted to the hospital, I'm actually subsidizing the care of someone who doesn't have health insurance that is as good as the policy I have.

[Bubba Link]

06:52 AM on 01/06/2012

This story is just that a big story...a load of BS.. For some reason Huff Post is allowing stories to be half told...and rarely are the whole truth...When ever there is a story about Mexican Illegal they stretch the truth to the fullest. We all know that this Illegal never ever paid his medical bill...Not once! Not a dime! They never do... He had no insurance.. He paid no taxes... just another Illegal emigrant living off the people of the USA...

[inthedesert]

09:25 AM on 01/06/2012

Oh you have noticed this too! LOL. HuffPost will never cover stories about the high costs of illegals to hospitals and taxpayers. As far as HuffPost is concerned, there is nothing negative about illegals.

[Beck65]

01:48 PM on 01/06/2012

The man was hurt at work, why should he have to pay his medical bills? You wouldn't. I'm sure he didn't fall 20 feet on purpose and wanted to be a Quadriplegic. Where do we deport you when you can't pay your medical bills? I'm hoping the Myans were right too, so I no longer have to deal with idiots like you.

[roald]

02:50 PM on 01/06/2012

How can you draw a conclusion that he did not pay any of his hospital bills or that he had no insurance? Neither or us knows. In any case, as Beck mentioned, why didn't his employer pay?

[Bubba Link]

03:54 PM on 01/06/2012

I can draw that conclusion because I know better...If you think that one cent came out of his pocket to pay medical bills then I got a bridge in NYC I want to sell you. His employer didn’t pay because he didn't have insurance either. They were a rag tag roofing gang. They didn’t mention the company he worked for because there is no company. They were doing jobs on the side. So if you don’t pay in to taxes and medical and schools why should you be able to bleed them dry. There is not one thing in any article about this Illegal alien that says he was deported for lack of payment for medical bills.. Not UPI,Chicago Trabune.. nothing. Just Huff Post being dishonest again. And Beck65 he got deported for being here illegally!!! Not for lack of payment. And if that doesn’t suit you then pay his bills..