Ethics on Call

Healthcare Transcends Borders: Treating Immigrant Patients with Dignity

Episode Summary

In this episode, Dan and Tom interview Dr. Mark Kuczewski about his recent work advocating for immigrant patients during the ongoing federal immigration enforcement surge.

Episode Notes

In this episode, Dan and Tom interview Dr. Mark Kuczewski about his recent work advocating for immigrant patients during the ongoing federal immigration enforcement surge. They discuss the following:

• Why the Church has always affirmed the universal human dignity and rights of immigrants and migrants (regardless of legal status)
• Ways for health professionals to advocate for immigrant patients
• The need to revise hospitals' forensic patient policies, and
• Why and how bioethicists are called to speak prophetically when immigrant patients are suffering.

Dr. Kuczewski is the Fr. Michael English Professor of Medical Ethics and Director of the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy at Loyola University Chicago, a past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH), and a Fellow of the Hastings Center. 

Below are links to the resources and publications referenced in this episode:

• Sanctuary Doctoring Toolkit - https://www.luc.edu/stritch/bioethics/medicaleducation/sanctuarydoctor/
• Kuczewski M, Blair A, Nguyen T, Garcia-Izaguirre ML, Dober GJ, “When ICE Brings You the Patient . . . Hospitals Must Stop Victimizing Forensic Patients,” American Journal of Bioethics, Vol. 26, no. 3 (March 12, 2026): 4-6. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2026.2623853
• Maalouf M, Blair A, Kuczewski M, “Treating Fear: Steps to Help Your Immigrant Patients,” Health Progress, Vol. 106, no. 4 (2025): 9-14, 2025. https://www.chausa.org/news-and-publications/publications/health-progress/archives/fall-2025/treating-fear--steps-to-help-your-immigrant-patients
• Catholic Health Association, USCCB, & Catholic Charities, Human Dignity is Not Dependent on a Person's Citizenship or Immigration Status (January 23, 2025): https://www.usccb.org/news/2025/human-dignity-not-dependent-persons-citizenship-or-immigration-status?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=twitter&utm_term=
• President Ronald Wilson Reagan, “Farewell Address to the Nation,” January 11, 1989. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/farewell-address-nation
• Zeke Hernandez, The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers (St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 2024). https://zekehernandez.net/book/