Bioethics Discussion Blog: Illegal Immigrant to a U.S. Citizen Physician: What Can We Learn by this Story?

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Thursday, August 16, 2007

Illegal Immigrant to a U.S. Citizen Physician: What Can We Learn by this Story?

From the August 9 2007 Perspective column of the New England Journal of Medicine:

"You will spend the rest of your life working in the fields," my cousin told me when I arrived in the United States in the mid-1980s. This fate indeed appeared likely: a 19-year-old illegal migrant farm worker, I had no English language skills and no dependable means of support.


Click on the above link and read the whole story (free full text) of Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, M.D. and how he made the journey from migrant farm worker to neurosurgeon and professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

What does this migration of an illegal immigrant to a U.S. citizen physician and scientist tell us about issues of illegal immigration but also the potential of living and developing in the United States? Do you find anything unethical or of concern or caution in this uplifting story? ..Maurice.

4 Comments:

At Friday, August 17, 2007 1:16:00 PM, Blogger #1 Dinosaur said...

With all due respect, I find this story mostly irrelevant.

This person came to the US in the 1980's and attended med school in the early '90s. The political and economic climates were very different. Kudos to him, but the implications for his analogue today are, well, nothing.

As difficult as this feat was for him then, it would be even harder now. At what point does "extremely improbable" become "impossible"? In a way, quoting stories like this today seems cruel. It implies that poverty is no burden if you want something badly enough. Good for him, but recognize that just counting on luck and hard work is unfair to the many other smart, motivated immigrants who will not be able to escape the fate this man's cousin warned him of.

 
At Friday, August 17, 2007 6:40:00 PM, Blogger Maurice Bernstein, M.D. said...

Excellent point, #1 dinosaur. The story may be anachronistic. Then why do you think the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine accepted this story for current publication? Perhaps to balance another Perspective article in the same issue which discusses "Immigrants and Health Care — At the Intersection of Two Broken Systems."(Full free article available at link.) The article deals with the issue of illegal immigration vs the current laws and with new laws worsening the healthcare for these lllegal immigrants and their children (whether the children are legal U.S. citizens or not.)

So my question is that looking at both Perspective articles, what do we get out of each and what do you think the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine are trying to tell us? I found no formal editorial in that issue which dealt with the two Perspective articles. ..Maurice.

 
At Friday, November 07, 2008 7:40:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought the article gives hope to people who think that illegal immigrants are all potential criminals. What I need to know is this: How did Dr. Quinones become a legal citizen? It is my understanding that the illegal immigrants now cannot go to college, let alone med school, without paying out of state tuition. So I really need to know how Dr. Quinones did this to help (I hope) others that I meet today.

 
At Friday, November 07, 2008 9:50:00 PM, Blogger Maurice Bernstein, M.D. said...

I would agree with Anonymous from today 11-7-08 that it isn't clear from the article when and how Dr. Quinones had become a U.S. citizen. I would assume that citizenship would be the ticket necessary for a career such as his. And somehow this does seem to me important information that is essential to wrap up the story. ..Maurice.

 

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