New Jersey man falls into coma, wakes up in Poland

[Jim Lane]

8. This is deportation without an opportunity to be heard.

Complaining about "deportation without consent" doesn't cut it. Lots of people are deported without their consent.

But the most fundamental meaning of due process is that the person should have notice and the opportunity to be heard. A person in a coma can't be given any meaningful opportunity to be heard on the issue. At a deportation hearing, he might have been able to show that the hospital had made an error and that he was not subject to deportation.