Blame Misplaced in Death of Girl

* In your Feb. 25 story on the tragic death of young Selene Segura Rios, you quote county health care bureaucrat Len Foster, who places the blame on a lack of access to socialized medicine for immigrants. The blame is misplaced. The problem is a lack of parental responsibility.

The reader is led to conclude that Selene’s parents are Mexican immigrants. You artfully dodge the issue, but by doing so one is inclined to believe her parents are here illegally. Whether here legally or illegally, they still owe their allegiance to another sovereign, as they are not yet U.S. citizens.

If I am correct in assuming Selene’s parents are Mexican citizens, under the Mexican Constitution of 1917 they are guaranteed health care. The responsible thing to do would have been to return to Mexico and to exercise their constitutional right to health care for Selene, not to visit an illicit pharmacist here.

Yes, young Selene’s death is tragic. But put the responsibility where it properly lies, with the only ones who can be held responsible: her parents.

Don’t try to transfer the blame to the citizens of Orange County, as you and Foster appear to want to do. Further, don’t try to make this into a cause to increase the financial burden on our citizens to provide broader health care for the tens of thousands who have violated our sovereignty and the rule of law to be here.

BRUCE CRAWFORD

Fountain Valley

* How many children will have to die before we go beyond saying that we are doing our part to provide services to the uninsured?

While we deplore the fact that medications are being sold in the backs of stores, practical options to prevent this from happening in the future are not being provided. It is true that there are services. However, the consequences for those who will use the services are not clear.

I must ask who is being irresponsible here? The store personnel, yes. However, the system is also being irresponsible.

Services are available, but how do we really want people to use those services? Why are we not issuing clear statements about the economic and legal consequences of using public benefits, [answering the question] “What facility should I use if my child is sick after hours and what will be the economic costs and the legal consequences of going there?”

I invite those in a position to interpret existing law and precedents and those in a position to create enforceable public policy to issue a clear statement about “public charge.”

I invite a multilanguage media campaign and outreach effort that explains simply and unequivocally the rules for use of public health services. I encourage a single, statewide telephone number people can call to speak to a live person who will direct them to a facility nearby that can serve them immediately.

For the last few months, as California struggles to implement Healthy Families, expand Medi-Cal and offer other forms of health insurance to California’s children, we, at many levels of the system, have issued written requests and have been waiting for a clear answer about public charge. Enrollment in these programs will remain embarrassingly low until authorities at the highest levels clearly state the rules for using public health benefits.

AMERICA BRACHO, MD, MPH

Latino Health Access

Santa Ana

* I can provide some insight as to why a poor immigrant family would turn to storefront medical care.

I recently took my son to a walk-in clinic for a sore throat. He saw a nurse practitioner for about five minutes and she ordered some in-house lab tests, not just a routine strep test. The tab was $221.

What if I had three kids with sore throats? Would I pay $663? Who but the rich and the insured can pay these prices? Is it time for national health insurance?

ELIZABETH AYDELOTTE

Huntington Beach