After the doctor threatens the deportation

Uninsured migrants must fear deportation after visiting a doctor

03/05/2013

Immigrants without health insurance have to expect deportation in Germany after a visit to a doctor. Hundreds of thousands of migrants have no regular residence status and therefore no opportunity to receive adequate medical care. Doctors are now calling for better treatment conditions and a relaxation of bureaucracy to ensure the anonymity of the uninsured.

Immigrants do not go to the doctor for fear of deportation
For fear of being deported later, many migrants without a regular residence permit will not go to the doctor if they need medical help. Doctors now demand more protection for uninsured people. „It must not be that people with a migrant background for fear of deportation or lack of insurance protection not or only very late to see a doctor, "said Ulrich Clever, human rights officer of the German Medical Association (BÄK), on Thursday in Berlin often worsen or become chronic. „This often ends in a medical emergency, "said Clever.

More and more people from Eastern Europe, but also immigrants from other countries live without any protection for the illness in Germany. According to the Central Ethics Committee at the German Medical Association (ZEKO), between 200,000 and 600,000 people in Germany currently have no secure residence status. In addition, there would be migrants without employment and insurance protection as well as asylum seekers with or without secure residence status. In order to be able to seek medical treatment, the asylum seeker must apply to the social services office for a health certificate, which is often not granted. The case-by-case examination is usually carried out by medically untrained personnel. „In some asylum seekers' homes, the home management decides if a doctor is called or not“, said the chairman of the Central Ethics Committee at the BÄK, Prof. Dr. med. Dr. Urban Wiesing. Doctors therefore call for a relaxation of the previous regulation, according to many migrants without regular residence status threatens a message to the immigration office and thus the deportation, if they seek medical help.

Doctors call for loosening of the bureaucracy for treatment of immigrants
But there are also unexplained questions for the doctors. „Doctors often get into serious ethical and sometimes legal conflict situations when medically required therapies and check-ups for insurance reasons must be omitted or the medical secrecy can not be met“, said Wiesing. Especially in children and adolescents, it was questionable if they did not receive adequate medical care. This included check-ups, vaccinations and therapies.

As the BÄK informs, medical confidentiality would regularly be annulled for people without valid papers in emergencies. Admittedly, when applying for a sickness certificate in emergencies, the so-called extended protection of secrets was taken over, but the competent authorities were largely unaware of why patients were subsequently reported and might then be threatened with expulsion. In the case of planned inpatient procedures, the social welfare office is even obliged to inform the immigration office or the police. „For many people without valid residence papers and their children there is virtually no regular treatment option“, ZEKO writes in its statement. „This is fundamentally contrary to the Medical Ethos, as set out in the Geneva Declaration of the World Medical Association“, reported Tanja Krones, who was involved in the opinion of ZEKO.

Medical secrecy may not be nullified even with immigrants
The ZEKO urges the removal of bureaucratic hurdles that make it difficult or even deny sick people access to the medical care they are entitled to under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. The doctor must keep the decision on the need for treatment. Especially for children and adolescents, the supply must be guaranteed. „Medical confidentiality is a high good and must not be undermined by the procedure for the allocation of benefits. The relationship of trust between doctor and patient must be explicitly and reliably protected“, so the ZEKO.

According to the BÄK, the federal government has so far refused to create humane solutions, including the anonymous health insurance. „So far, this can not be clarified with our federal government in such a way that it is regulated as in other countries, "said Clever.

Maltese works offer anonymous treatment
Since 2001, the Malteser Werke have offered anonymous treatments for people without valid residence status and people without health insurance. In addition to the medical care is the preservation of anonymity in the foreground, so that no patient must fear to be reported due to the treatment. „The status of many patients has changed, "said Angelika Haentjes-Börgers, Department Head Migration of Malteser Werke, to the news agency „dpa“. „Only around one-third of them are irregularly immigrants. "Many of the patients, most of whom come from Eastern European EU countries, would often take treatment much later than regular health insurance companies.

Image: Gerd Altmann, Pixelio.de