Nursing Faculty Publications

Illegal Immigrants in the Emergency Department: An Ethical Dilemma for Nurses?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2009

Journal Title

Journal of Emergency Nursing

ISSN

1527-2966

Volume

35

Issue

2

First Page

127

Last Page

128

DOI

10.1016/j.jen.2008.08.018

PubMed ID

19285176

Abstract

The current presidential debate has brought many issues to the forefront of national discussion. Some of these revolve around the presence of illegal immigrants in the country, including their citizenship status and their impact on the nation’s challenged health care system. Nurses who serve on the front lines of health care delivery encounter many ethical dilemmas. It is possible that one such dilemma may be whether a patient’s citizenship status should be used to determine his or her eligibility for emergency medical care. This article speaks to nurses who may encounter this issue. The intent is to explore the legal and ethical implications to help readers conclude that a patient’s citizenship status should not hinder the medical care that he or she needs.

Keywords

Health care, emergency nursing, nurse-patient relations, patient rights, immigration

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