IMMIGRATION LESSON

Our nation faces an immigration crisis with millions of undocumented aliens and many others clamoring to come to the U.S. Because of this, it is very easy for discussion of immigration to devolve into xenophobia and "us vs. them" diatribes (see the Republican primary field). However, I experienced a very personal story of how our broken immigration policy impacts family's lives while attending on the inpatient oncology service this past week.

J, we will call him, was a Mexican immigrant who had been living in the US for the past several years. He worked in the fields in the agriculture industry - a job most Americans refuse to do. While here, he developed shoulder pain that was severe enough to land him in the hospital. He was found to have a large mass that turned out to be a bone cancer. He was started on chemotherapy. However, he developed a bowel perforation and almost died. Sadly, his wife and infant child were back in Mexico and unable to visit him because of his undocumented status. Eventually, his wife was allowed to come to see him because we feared he might die.

Fortunately, he survived that hospitalization and was well enough to be admitted for another cycle of chemo. During this hospitalization, the chemo made him confused and quite emotionally labile. He was unable to hold back his feelings, which poured out on rounds one day. He said that this treatment was not worth it. He just wanted to be with his son back in Mexico. However, he knew that if he left he would not be able to receive treatment that might stabilize his cancer and allow him to live for the next few years. He was stuck between staying here and receiving treatment that had only caused complications so far or going home to die to be with his son. The starkness and brutality of this choice was straight out of a Camus novel. What should he do? What would you choose?

Ultimately, his mental status improved, and he became more clear. He decided to forge ahead with treatment.

I never asked him what went into this decision, but I bet he would have said something like this. "I want to stay here and fight the cancer because that will give me the best chance of surviving so that I can spend more time with my child who is hundreds of miles away. I want to get well enough to go home or live long enough for this government to change its cruel, unfeeling laws."

Here endeth the immigration lesson.