Quadriplegic immigrant dies after hospital returned him to Mexico

This story appears in the Immigration and the Church feature series. View the full series.

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The Chicago Tribune reports today this story:

 

"Sent back to Mexico by the Chicago-area medical center that had treated his crippling injury, the young quadriplegic languished for more than a year in a small-town hospital ill-equipped to handle his needs.

 

Quelino Ojeda Jimenez, who needed a ventilator to breathe, suffered two episodes of cardiac arrest in that facility as well as developing bedsores and a septic infection, officials said.

On Sunday, just 30 minutes into the new year, Ojeda died at age 21, said Jeromino Ramirez Luis, director of the General Hospital of Juchitan in Mexico, which took over his care from the smaller facility last month. Ramirez said the causes were pneumonia, sepsis and the effects of the spinal injury Ojeda suffered while working illegally in the United States."

 

More of the story can be found here. In the story is a link to a previous story the Tribune had written regarding Ojeda's departure from the hospital last year. Evangelical Health Systems Corporation and Lutheran General HealthSystem combined to form Advocate Health Care in 1995, according to Advocate Christ Medical Center's website.

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