Undocumented Patients: Two Journeys

EthicsLab

We hear many stories these days about immigration. Certainly, healthcare workers see undocumented individuals in Emergency Rooms or clinics. What is that experience like of being undocumented and needing healthcare? What would be helpful for clinicians to know? Does healthcare ethics have something to say on this topic? Today we hear from two healthcare leaders on these issues. One, who was an undocumented person and who later became a physician in the United States, and the other is the healthcare leader who supported her journey. Our guests in this episode include: Mark G. Kuczewski, PhD, is the Fr. Michael I. English, S.J., Professor of Medical Ethics and also Director of the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy at Loyola University, Chicago Dr Johana Mejias-Beck, internal medicine pediatrics specialist, currently at the University of Missouri, Kansas…and one of the first undocumented students to attend the first medical school in the country to accept applicants with DACA status. Additional resources relating to or referenced in this episode: Limbo Really Exists: Undocumented Youth at Risk, Mark Kuczewski, Johana Mejias-Beck, Amy Blair, and Matthew Fitz Treating Fear: Sanctuary Doctoring, Loyola University Chicago - Neiswanger Institute