Trump immigration order could keep patients from scheduled U.S. hospital visits

Nearly two dozen patients who had planned on traveling to the U.S. for medical care may be prevented from entering the country due to President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending travel from seven Muslim-majority nations.

STAT News reports John Hopkins Medicine has identified 11 patients from those countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen—who had been scheduled to travel to their facilities for medical care in the next 90 days.

“These are very, very ill patients,” Pamela Paulk, president of Johns Hopkins Medicine International, told STAT. “In most cases, these are not cases to be postponed.”

Nine patients will be in similar situations after scheduling treatment at the Cleveland Clinic, which already had a physician forced to leave the country because of the order.

For more on how the immigration order intersects with healthcare, click on the link below: 

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John Gregory, Senior Writer

John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.

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