Republican House challenger Rosemary Becchi in early September told a group of voters from Livingston undocumented immigrants should be refused health care for non-life-threatening ailments.
Becchi was asked whether a hospital should refuse treatment to “an illegal alien shows up at the hospital with a broken leg.”
“I would say yes,” she said, drawing an audible gasp from one of the virtual candidate forum’s attendees.
Minutes earlier, Becchi said undocumented immigrants seeking end-of-life care should not be turned away, though she waffled somewhat on whether such immigrants should have access to life-saving care.
“I think there are instances where you can show compassion and maybe help, but do I think that we should be spending life-saving measures or things of that nature?” she said. “I don’t necessarily think that’s what we should be doing, but at the same time, I don’t know that I would ever turn somebody away. That’s just human nature.”
The comments were made during a virtual forum with the Livingston Old Guard, a retiree group, held on September 8.
Becchi’s position drew a rebuke from Livingston Deputy Mayor Shawn Klein, a physician.
“Injecting raw economics into medical care when someone is acutely ill is clearly inhumane, even if it’s not life-or-death,” said Klein, a Democrat.
The challenger went on to say she disagreed with President Donald Trump’s use of cages in deportations, saying immigrants in the country illegally should be treated humanely.
“In terms of deporting people and dealing with illegal immigrants, we have to treat people in a very humane way, and that would be something that, yes, I would disagree on,” she said.
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