Call me cold hearted, but it's all about defining your own.
An Oakland man, Jesus Navarro, is being denied a potentially life saving kidney transplant. Doctors at the UC San Francisco Medical Center are refusing to perform the operation due to Navarro's immigration status. In other words, he's an illegal alien, one of nearly three million residing in the bastion of alien sanctuaries which has become California. Complicating the issue, for some, Navarro has had health insurance, and a job, for 14 years.
Count me not as one who finds any complications in this case. I see a man in need, but what he needs shouldn't be provided if it means an American citizen goes without. As hard as it may be to say in the face of a life threatening illness, Navarro is not totally innocent here. Certainly, he did not ask for and does not deserve kidney disease. But he did intentionally come here illegally, and has chosen to remain here in that capacity for over a decade. Apparently, he's a productive member of society, holding down the job at a steel foundry which has, presumably, provided at least a portion of his health insurance. But that also means he's held a job for over a decade that could have, and should have been providing for an American family.
We're not talking about something which is in limitless supply, such as the greenbacks our government passes out so freely to citizens and non-citizens alike. We're talking about a human organ, the likes of which are extremely limited, providing life to the lucky recipient. But, if many are in need and only a few can be helped, aren't choices necessary? And, if the choice comes down to a member of your family verses a neighbor, who would you choose as the one to receive the gift of life?
Consider this example. If your wife stays home to raise your children, you work hard to provide adequately for the family and often times sacrifice is involved. It's a commendable disposition, likely to not be derided even by those who do not agree with your lifestyle. Still, there is an entire other set that opts to drop their children off at a day care facility, choosing instead the luxuries that two incomes can provide. Suppose these families suddenly change course and decide your way is best after all, and their children would be better off at home with their mother than in the care of strangers. Although they now recognize a better way, a better life for their children if you will, they cannot get by on only one income. Is it then your responsibility, or mine, to pick up a second job in order for the other family to have that which you enjoy? Of course, it is not. A limit must be placed, pragmatically speaking, on those who are your responsibility.
So it is with illegal aliens in our midst.
American citizenship represents a family of sorts, the parents being the government. In this case, mom and dad have responsibility only for their own, American citizens. In fact, the government's responsibility to care for you and me, the citizen, extends beyond simple provision. It's also mom and dad's responsibility to protect us, ensuring that what is ours is not given away or taken by non-family members, thereby ensuring that what is rightfully ours is available when we want or need it.
This principle also extends, necessarily, to human life. As difficult a decision as it may seem to be, choosing whose life to save is not only practical, it's something each and every one of us would do if the difficult choice was presented to us, personally. Remembering that each of us rightly defines (read limits) our own family and hence our responsibilities, not one of us would waiver in deciding who an available organ would go to when one became available. We would always demand the organ be kept within the family, going to our son, daughter or spouse rather than our next door neighbor. In fact, we might even prefer it go to the cousin we haven't seen in ten years, or the brother or sister who doesn't speak to us any longer. They are still family, after all.
In the case of Jesus Navarro, there are many others on the transplant list who are family members and only one of those can benefit from the next available kidney. He, and his wife who has also requested a kidney transplant, are merely neighbors. It matters not that they've lived next door for 14 years, or if they've been productive members (albeit illegal) of society. They simply are not family. Affording them rights and privileges bestowed only upon family means a member of the family goes without. In this case, the family member goes without life.
Cold hearted? It may seem that way, but I commend the decision of the staff at UC San Francisco Medical Center. To be clear, I do not celebrate the suffering of Jesus Navarro or any human being. But he's simply not family and my sympathies, and sacrifices, will be reserved for the very first family member on the list, an American citizen.
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