EPISODE 1 - IMMIGRATION & UNDOCUMENTED PATIENTS IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
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SHOWNOTES
Objectives:
Learn the effects of anti-immigrant legislation on seeking care and ED presentation
Learn barriers immigrants and undocumented patients face in seeking care
Learn what rights undocumented patients in the ED have
Learn where you can connect your patients to legal aid and healthcare resources
Know your options when ICE shows up to your ED
Resources:
Community health centers, migrant health centers, and free clinics
Legal aid
Nonprofit organizations that provide low-cost help https://www.immigrationlawhelp.org
List of lawyers that provide free services via immigration courts https://www.justice.gov/eoir/list-pro-bono-legal-service-providers
Search engine for legal services near you https://www.adminrelief.org
American Immigration Lawyers Association’s online directory https://www.ailalawyer.com
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guilde https://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/find.html
National Immigration Law Center Health Care Toolkits - https://healthtoolkit.nilc.org
How to make sure your ED is safe space
Signs / posters / message to patients (in various languages)
Know-your-rights cards for patients
Designating private and public spaces
Make an ED protocol for interaction with ICE authorities
Relationship with legal team
Take-home points:
All ED docs are going to encounter undocumented immigrants in the ED and in the community
Understand the barriers to care- much is related to fear
ED docs can be advocates and create a safe space- create posters, talk to your hospital administration to come up with programs/direct people to resources
Patients present to the ED more and more critically ill because they delay care
It is important to note that the protections that HIPAA provides as well as the stance on whether or not it is best to document a patient's immigration status in their medical record is controversial. The NILC states "Providers are strongly encouraged to avoid collecting or recording immigration-related information in the event that they are legally required to disclose their otherwise protected information". For further discussion of this challenging question, please reference the NILC Healthcare Toolkit or your hospital's legal department.
Contributors:
Vibha Gupta
Lia Losonczy
Sonali Gandhi
Annette Dekker
Jorge Aceves