Our hospitals are compelled by law to treat illegal immigrants in their emergency rooms without charge. One after another, they are going bankrupt and closing their doors. Here is one example.

The Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield, New Jersey is a state-of-the-art facility with comprehensive coverage of diverse medical disciplines. It is the sort of resource that communities dream of having available for their emergencies as well as routine care. In addition to their many community wellness programs, they host New Jersey’s premier cancer center.

Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center is a 396-bed acute care facility that provides inpatient and outpatient services in all major medical specialties. Other specialized services include a complete array of cardiac services (including emergency angioplasty), a Bariatric Surgery Center, Vein Center, Lithotripsy Center,Wound Care Center, hemodialysis, home care, hospice and adult medical day care….

The Regional Cancer Center is committed to providing high quality care for people with cancer. The Center offers all the services needed to effectively identify and treat cancer, including state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, surgery, medical oncology, neuro-oncology, radiation therapy, investigational trials, stereotactic radiosurgery (Gamma Knife), nursing care, counseling, nutritional support, discharge planning, outpatient services and hospice care.

But soon the Muhlenberg community safety net will be gone. The New Jersey Star Ledger reports:

Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center shutting its doors

Faced with mounting deficits caused mainly by insufficient state aid to cover all its uninsured patients, officials at Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield plan to close the 130-year-old facility later this year….programs and services will be phased out during a “wind down” period before Muhlenberg finally stops admitting patients….

The decision to close the 396-bed Plainfield hospital was a “last resort” after an attempt to find a buyer failed, said John P. McGee, president and CEO of Solaris Health System, which owns the hospital. Muhlenberg, which also has 1,100 employees and 350 affiliated physicians, was put up for sale last November. Officials say they reached out to more than 60 potential buyers.

McGee said one reason for the lack of interest is economics: Muhlenberg will likely show a loss of $18 million for 2007.

The hospital – whose emergency room treats 35,000 patients a year – doled out some $15.4 million in uncompensated care last year, but received only $6.2 million from the state in charity care funding, spokesman Steven Weiss said.

Muhlenberg has also been treating a growing number of uninsured patients as well as undocumented patients, most of whom are not insured and do not qualify for charity care….

The data: $15.4 million uncompensated care  |  $6.2 million state reimbursement

The dilemma: Community loses health care facility  |  Taxpayers fund health care for aliens

We are caught in a vicious downward spiral. The liberals have allowed an estimated 20 million illegal aliens to invade our country, in the hopes of gaining a large voting bloc through amnesty. Those undocumented and uninsured individuals are destroying our health care systems economically. Once the health care is degraded, the liberals will use that fact as an argument to socialize medicine, which will reduce all health care to the lowest possible denominator.

Tail wag: Gayle Kesselman, New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control