Cynthia Z. Maldonado|Robert M. Rodriguez|Jesus R. Torres|Yvette S. Flores|Luis M. Lovato
Fear of Discovery Among Latino Immigrants Presenting to the Emergency Department
University of California, San Francisco|University of California, San Francisco|Olive View-UCLA Medical Center|Olive View-UCLA Medical Center|Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
recent legislation mandating reporting undocumented immigrants may instill fear discovery access emergency department ed services objectives study 1 characterize knowledge beliefs undocumented latino immigrants udli health care workers reporting nonreporting illegal immigrants ed 2 determine whether udli fear discovery presenting ed 3 determine nature sources fearthis crosssectional study udli two comparison groups conducted two california county eds november 2009 august 2010 authors interviewed convenience sample adult udli latino legal residents llr nonlatino legal residents nllr using structured instrument native language main outcome fear discovery among udli sources fearof 1224 patients approached 1007 823 interviewed 314 udli 373 llr 320 nllr median age 43 years interquartile range iqr 31 55 years 51 male udlis less likely speak english 14 95 confidence interval ci 10 18 health insurance 39 95 ci 32 44 regular primary care provider pcp 39 95 ci 34 45 compared llr english 56 95 ci 51 61 health insurance 50 95 ci 45 55 regular pcp 51 95 ci 46 57 nllr english 95 95 ci 92 97 health insurance 49 95 ci 43 54 regular pcp 51 95 ci 45 56 16 udli stated nurses doctors treat undocumented immigrant patients differently citizens 41 95 ci 29 54 reported less respect given udli staff thirtytwo percent udli heard proposition 187 13 believed hospital staff reported udli immigration authorities 9 said asked citizenship status fear coming hospital discovery expressed 12 95 ci 9 16 udli 42 95 ci 28 58 citing discussions friendsfamily 32 95 ci 19 47 citing media 16 95 ci 7 30 citing sources fearone eight udli presenting ed express fear discovery consequent deportation belief medical staff report udli recent immigration risk factors fear family friends media primary sources concerns