Medical justice for undocumented migrants
2008; Elsevier BV; Volume: 371; Issue: 9608 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0140-6736(08)60110-5
ISSN1474-547X
AutoresFrank Arnold, Iain Chalmers, Andrew Herxheimer, George Lewith, Stephen Paul Kennedy, Peter Kandela, David Nicholl, Daniel Campion, Hugh G. Morton, Ram Natarajan, Ruairidh Milne, Elaine Chung, Kim A. Jobst, Peter McCulloch, David Halpin, Charmian Goldwyn, Chess Denman, Edmund Hey, John Zajicek, Jamie Fulton, Phil Alderson, H. P. Williams, Ruth Gilbert, Michael Baum,
Tópico(s)Healthcare Systems and Challenges
ResumoYour Editorial, "Access to health care for undocumented migrants in Europe" (Dec 22, p 2070)1 is timely. The UK Government is imminently considering means to abolish the right of "failed" asylum seekers to primary health care through the National Health Service (NHS) in Britain. This would be dangerous and unethical. 276 doctors registered to practise in the UK have (so far) signed a petition opposing the policy. The substance of the petition appears below. "This would impose serious health risks on [undocumented migrants] and on the general public. It would also interfere with our ability to carry out our duties as doctors. It is not in keeping with the ethics of our profession to refuse to see any person who may be ill, particularly pregnant women with complications, sick children or men crippled by torture. No one would want such a doctor for their GP. "We call on the government to retreat from this foolish proposal, which would prevent doctors from investigating, prescribing for, or referring such patients on the NHS. "We pledge that, in the event this regulation comes into effect, we will: (a) continue to see and examine asylum seekers and to advise them about their health needs, whatever their immigration status; (b) document their diagnoses and required clinical care; (c) with suitable anonymisation and consent, copy this documentation to the responsible ministers, [members of parliament] and the press; (d) inform the public of the human costs, to harness popular disgust at what is being ordered by the government in their name; (e) campaign to speedily reverse these ill-advised policies." For the full list of signatories see http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/medical-justice-for-asylum-seekers.html Migrant health: what are doctors' leaders doing?Last week, UK immigration officials removed a terminally ill Ghanaian woman from a hospital in Wales and escorted her back to Ghana, where she is unable to afford the treatment she needs to prolong her life. Full-Text PDF
Referência(s)