June 18, 2010
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JUST ONE HOSPITAL
Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas is a fairly famous institution and for a variety of reasons:
- John F. Kennedy died there in 1963
- Lee Harvey Oswald died there shortly after
- Jack Ruby-who killed Oswald, died there a few years later.
On the flip side, Parkland is also home to the second busiest maternity ward in the country with almost 16,000 new babies arriving each year. (That's almost 44 per day---every day)!
A recent patient survey indicated that 70 percent of the women who gave birth at Parkland in the first three months of 2006 were illegal immigrants. That's 11,200 anchor babies born every year just in Dallas!!!
According to the article, the hospital spent $70.7 million delivering 15,938 babies in 2004 but managed to end up with almost $8 million dollars in surplus funding. Medicaid kicked in $34.5 million, Dallas County taxpayers kicked in $31.3 million and the feds tossed in another $9.5 million.
The average patient in Parkland in maternity wards is 25 years old, married and giving birth to her second child. She is also an illegal immigrant. By law, pregnant women cannot be denied medical care based on their immigration status or ability to pay.
OK, fine. That doesn't mean they should receive better care than everyday, middle-class American citizens. But at Parkland Hospital, they do. " Parkland Memorial Hospital has nine prenatal clinics. NINE!!!
These women receive free prenatal care including medication, nutrition, birthing classes and child care classes. They also get freebies such as car seats, bottles, diapers and formula.
As if that isn't annoying enough, the illegal immigrant patients are actually complaining about hospital staff not speaking Spanish. In an attempt to create a Spanish-speaking staff, Parkland Hospital is now providing incentives in the form of extra pay for applicants who speak Spanish.
Comments (6)
That kinda pisses me off. Nobody gave me a free car seat and I pay taxes.
Actually I think every pregnant woman should get the same "best we have to offer" prenatal care regardless of their resident status...The babies don't have a say about their mothers situation...but I figure said babies don't care what language is spoken...they just need someone to care for them.
Argh. I'm with both of the above commentors. Which is very frustrating. Practically, it's annoying and costly and probably 10 other things. On the humanitarian side... the babies are innocent. Someone needs to find a better solution to the issue of illegals...
THIS is one major sore spot with me! Correct me if I'm wrong...but ILLEGAL is breaking the law, right???? And they are being REWARDED with OUR hard earned tax dollars while I live pay check to pay check and sometimes can't afford my electric bill or meds???? ummm.....something is WRONG with this picture. Can we spell o-b-a-m-a and his administration???
Thanks for the enlightening post tho....now I have to go find a puppy to pet to lower my blood pressure!
)
I'll wave westwardly when I'm in Chi Town, lol. Have you ever been to Taste of Chicago? Just outta curiousity.
We've been there once in the 32 years we've lived in Illinois. We don't get to Chicago often except for an occasional game or play. We seem to keep busy in the burbs.
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