A Significant Rant - From a medical geneticist
A Rant
This post is a pure rant. No deep insight. Just that I am currently pissed and need to vent. Writing this story will maybe help get my blood pressure back under control.
I am a medical geneticist and see patients of all ages, ethnicities, socioeconomic levels, etc. And I see patients with a number of rare disorders that are often complex and need lifelong medical care from a variety of specialists. When I give a genetic diagnosis to a parent or patient, it can be difficult as I am often changing their lives and associated hopes and fears. Especially to parents regarding their children.
The bastard administration’s immigration policy has bothered me for a long time. I get so upset about stories of parents and children with medical and other needs that are deported. I can’t even read the stories posted of the children ripped away from their parents at the border because it makes my heart ache.
However, all of this immigration stuff has been in the abstract. It had not been someone I knew. Until today.
I saw a family for counseling today. I have followed the child for a year. Because of HIPPA I can’t give details, obviously. But I diagnosed the child today with an incredibly rare genetic disorder, one that is progressive and will need lifelong care by a number of specialists. As I am hitting the mother with a ton of information, she initially seems to be taking it all fairly well. But later in the visit, she becomes very tearful. I thought maybe things were sinking in at that time. I asked her if she had any questions. And then she says that she is going to be deported and she is worried about her child with this diagnosis and how her child will get the needed care if she leaves. She is the only caretaker. It is another one of those stories where she was doing nothing wrong, but had the misfortune of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Not long into when I first started practicing, I helped a family get a green card for the father because of a genetic diagnosis I made in the daughter. I even testified (my first legal testimony) at the immigration court. The family was successful and I was really happy to know I was able to help them out. I had hope since that time that my families in these situations could get relief through the immigration system and justice and compassion could prevail.
Not now. I sat and looked at the mother and felt almost hopeless. With this environment and administration, even in California, I knew that the chance of the only caregiver her children had being taken away was a definite possibility. I told her to get an attorney and fight like hell. I wrote her a letter, detailing the medical issues of her child and why it was critical for that child (an American citizen) to get care in the U.S. and for his mother to stay with him as his only care giver. I gave her medical records. I called social work and the disease support organizations. But I am not hopeful that it will change things. And this has made me so angry that I feel like my heart is being ripped out. Like many doctors, especially those that deal with pediatrics, patients and their families become more than just patients. They are “my" kids and "my" families. Their issues hit me as well. In prior environments, I would tell this woman that there was hope and maybe share the story of my other patient. But right now, I feel I have no right to give her hope.
I not only hate this administration but anyone who supports them. They have no heart or soul. They are hypocrites to the core. How any one can claim to be a Christian and stand by and watch this sort of inhumanity go on is beyond me. And how they can claim they are pro-life when they are committing such atrocities against those who are actually living just boils my blood. If someone ever comes to me with anything about abortion being wrong and the “sanctity of life” I am going to not be able to hold it in. I will uncork at them with everything I have.
For the few who will actually read this, thank you for letting me vent. Knowing that most people who actually read this will be sympathetic to the family and probably also get mad is therapeutic. If you have any thoughts on what I can do further to help my patient and the mother, I would be appreciative. I know they are not unique and there are many who need the same help, but I want to try to do all I can for them. And any other patients I have in the future with this issue.
MORE:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/6/1769956/-A-Rant
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