N.J.: No care for Grady dialysis patients

By Craig Schneider

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Confusion continued Friday over Grady Memorial Hospital’s plan to move dialysis patients who are illegal immigrants to other states, as hospital officials remained unable to verify that all those states would provide and pay for care.

The hospital hopes to soon close its outpatient dialysis unit, and has promised to find care for all 90 patients in the program. Many are illegal immigrants.

Grady officials had said earlier that they found 11 states that provide Medicaid coverage for illegal immigrants who need outpatient dialysis treatments. Georgia does not.

On Friday, Grady spokesman Matt Gove challenged some findings of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. On Thursday, the newspaper spoke to officials of three states on the Grady list — New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia — and officials there said they do not provide Medicaid coverage for illegal immigrants who need ongoing outpatient dialysis.

Gove said on Friday Grady staffers have confirmed six of the 11 states on its list do provide Medicaid, including New Jersey and North Carolina. He said the original list of 11 states was provided by an outside consultant, and Grady is now working to verify the list.

But Suzanne Esterman, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Human Services, said Friday that New Jersey does not provide Medicaid for ongoing dialysis care for illegals. New Jersey provides Medicaid for immediate emergency care for illegals, she said.

She said she is concerned about the Grady policy of moving patients to other states.

“We’re disturbed to hear that this might be happening to vulnerable patients,” she said.

Gove said Grady has confirmed that government Medicaid programs for illegal immigrants also exist in New York, North Carolina and Ohio. The newspaper could not reach those states Friday to check on the measures he cited. Gove said Grady continues to try to contact other states on the list.

As many as 10 patients have already relocated to other states, but none traveled to New Jersey, he said.

Gove declined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s request to speak to Grady CEO Michael Young. The head of the Grady board of directors, Pete Correll, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Confusion also continued Friday for Grady outpatient dialysis patients, some of whom said they feared that Friday would be their last day of care there.

Several patients said they had not received the news that a Fulton County Superior Court judge on Wednesday had ordered the clinic to stay open.

Grady officials had initially said the outpatient dialysis clinic would close Sunday, and has offered to relocate some illegal immigrants to other states or back to their home country.

Three patients who attended a protest rally on the closing Friday said they had been told by staff some time ago that Friday was their last day.

The center is the last resort for such care for many uninsured people and illegal immigrants, who cannot get into private clinics. But its equipment is old and the unit loses between $2 million to $4 million a year, officials said.

“I’m scared,” said Gusto Rodriguez, 43, an illegal immigrant who came to the U.S. from Honduras in 1983.

He said he would come back to the hospital Monday to receive the care he needs three times a week. He hoped he could at least receive the care through the emergency room, even if it meant waiting hours to be served.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville issued a temporary restraining order that mandated that Grady keep the clinic open, at least until a court hearing Wednesday.

The order also told Grady to stop its controversial efforts to relocate patients to other states and back to their home countries.

At the rally outside the hospital Friday, state Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), along with a dozen advocates of The Grady Coalition, called on the safety net hospital to keep the unit open.

“The poor of Atlanta need that treatment,” he said.