Currently, as of today, I have a patient from Mexico who has been in my hospital for 760 days. He has severe brain damage, has no family, no friends. His charges to date for almost two years is $1.5 million and we have contacted the Mexican Consulate four times, we have contacted Immigration and nobody will help us return this patient to Mexico. We are even willing to spend our own $30,000 to return this patient. We can’t get anyone to help us with that.

In 2007, the Florida Hospital Association estimates that there was $100 million in costs for illegal care. That affects all of us. One of the major problems that health care institutions have today that you need to be aware of is ongoing care. If somebody comes into our emergency rooms we don’t turn them away. But if someone comes into our emergency room and they have renal failure and they require dialysis, right now I have six patients, illegal, undocumented patients that we are seeing every three days for renal dialysis. For all this I have talked about we have received no reimbursement. This obviously affects all of us in this room. Our health care costs are severely affected by this. I would also like to end with pointing out that a large percentage of the babies born at our facility are from illegal parents.”

QUESTION: Ma’am, when you know they are illegal do you report them to federal authorities so you they can get them?

PLATO: We have tried and we have been told on numerous occasions that they’re only interested if a crime has been committed. And, from what I understand they’re not even interested then.

QUESTION: So the fact that they’re illegal is not enough crime?

PLATO: Correct.