White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sparked outrage on Thursday after dodging a question about whether emergency rooms should check a patient’s immigration status before providing life-saving treatment to them.
Leavitt was asked directly by a reporter: “Should ERs check for immigration status before treating a dying patient?”
She replied, “That’s probably not a question for me to answer. I think that’s a question for health care professionals and legal experts to answer.”
Medical professionals swiftly condemned Leavitt’s evasive response.
CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist and professor at George Washington University, called the idea of denying emergency care based on immigration status “grossly immoral.”
