The Supreme Court is deciding the fate of an executive order to ban or severely restrict travel from eight foreign countries to the United States. Recent reports have also revealed that the federal government is weighing more limits on Chinese scientific researchers at American universities.
We all view these immigration-related debates through certain lenses. Some see these as issues of national security, while others may focus on the positive contributions that foreign-born people make while in the U.S.
My colleagues and I in pediatric medicine have our own lens. We spend our careers focused on the well-being of children — and we know that American children cannot get the care they need without immigrant health care professionals. We know that research breakthroughs often happen here because of international expertise.
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Consider that at my home institution, Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio:
— The director of our Pediatric Surgery Residency Program is originally from Nigeria. An eminent doctor himself, he is training the next generation of surgeons to care for children in America and abroad.
— The director of our Center for Perinatal Research is originally from Romania. Her discoveries in recent years are helping solve the mystery of why premature births happen.
— The chief of our Section of Emergency Medicine is originally from Ghana. He leads the group of doctors who are saving the lives of seriously ill and injured children every day.
— The clinical director of our Blood and Marrow Transplant Program is originally from Jordan. She is an oncologist and hematologist, and some of the United States’ sickest children survive cancer and other serious diseases because of her.
— The director of our Center for Pediatric Trauma Research is originally from China. His recent publications have pointed the way toward better treatment for children who experience major trauma.
These are five of the dozens of surgeons, physicians and principal research investigators at Nationwide Children’s who were not born in the U.S., and yet spend their distinguished medical and scientific careers helping American children.
At least 16 of our hospital’s faculty members face some kind of immigration visa deadline for being in the United States. Approximately 140 more of our employees — researchers, nurses, therapists, members of our patient transportation team — also have visa deadlines.
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Our hospital is not alone. Approximately 25 percent of doctors practicing in the United States are from other countries, and the percentage is higher in rural and other areas that have a shortage of medical providers. A report in the journal Health Affairs estimated that doctors from just six of the countries named in the travel ban provide 14 million medical appointments.
All of this leads to two inescapable conclusions. First, Americans receive necessary basic health care because of immigrants. The United States already faces a shortage of doctors and nurses, even with foreign-born medical professionals.
Second, I know from my own hospital’s experience that some of the best, most innovative medical procedures and research in pediatric health care are performed by immigrants. Children across the United States are alive because of people who were not born in the United States.
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Like many who debate national immigration policies, we in pediatric medicine are concerned with protecting this country. We believe one of the most important ways is by ensuring the health of its youngest residents.
Policies that would needlessly restrict the ability of immigrant health care workers and scientific researchers to come to the U.S., or to visit their homelands and return here, ultimately harm American children.
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How Immigration Improves Child Health Care in the U.S. originally appeared on usnews.com
