Ethical Issues In Forced Patient Repatriation

Abstract
There are many ethical health care issues that arise within the United States on daily. The purpose of this paper is to give the readers an understanding of forced patient repatriation and how it not only affects the patient, but the patient’s family, and the community as a whole. The four ethical principles autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice will be addressed and how forced patient repatriation is affected by these four principles. Ethical Health Care Issues Paper
One current ethical issue that has been a constant problem within the health care community is forced patient repatriation. Forced patient repatriation is the term used when patients that are sick in the hospital, who have no health care insurance,
However, once the patient has been stabilized and moved into more of a long-term care, patients are being removed from the hospital and transferred to another hospital, which could possibly be located in another country. There are four very important negative aspects that need to be looked at when discussing forced patient repatriation. The first is that forced patient repatriation can mean transporting a sick patient a long distance, with limited equipment or personnel during the transportation, causing possible health complications. The second negative aspect is that repatriation allows hospitals to physically remove patients from one hospital to another countries hospital with fewer resources and protection from federal regulations. The third negative aspect is that repatriation serves as a form of deportation without going through the government and formal deportation proceedings. Finally the last negative aspect is repatriation moves patients from one hospital and takes them to a hospital in another country; where the patient may be unfamiliar with and away from having their family near them for
Since Antonio Torres did not have health care insurance, and the hospital was unsure of their immigration status, they transported him to a hospital that did not have the proper equipment, personnel, or space to properly treat and care for Antonio. He also became even sicker by catching infections, after days of having to stay in the emergency room because there were no available beds in any other departments for him. It wasn’t until he was transported back to a hospital within the United States that he was able to get the proper care and treatment that he needed to get better and come out of the