title: Can medical repatriation be ethical? Establishing best practices.
abstract: Hospitals in the United States have been engaging in the practice of returning immigrant patients, usually undocumented immigrant patients, to their country of origin when the patient has long-term medical needs for which no reimbursement is available. I argue that for such an action to be ethical, it must be done in accordance with the mission and values of hospitals. I describe three standards that an individual instance of repatriation must meet to be ethical: (1) patient best interests, (2) medical due diligence, and (3) informed consent. I argue that these should form the basis for best practices in regard to medical repatriation for all hospitals in the United States.
authors.affiliation: Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL 60153, USA. mkuczew@lumc.edu
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuczewski
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000941:ethics*; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006761:Hospitals / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011640:Public Policy; D014171:Transients and Migrants; D014481:United States