Cultural Awareness Cesar Is a Patient Who

Cultural Awareness

Cesar

Cesar is a patient who presents with psychotic symptoms associated with acute trauma. A Mexican citizen, he has a criminal history in Mexico, but after being released from prison six years earlier he immigrated illegally to the United States. He has resided and worked illegally, and was recently arrested by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) for a traffic violation. Upon interviewing him the CPH detained him and requested that the local gang intervention task force interview him because he has tattoos related to the well-known street gang the Latin Kings. Cesar was not charged with any crime, and his detention report notes that he was held at a routine traffic stop because the officers felt he "appeared suspicious." After a careful revision of his car and personal items they found no legal violations other than that his identification was not legal for the United States. Cesar was not violent and remained lucid and cooperative throughout the investigation and interviews. He was then told he would be deported from the United States because the CHP had indentified him as an illegal immigrant. At this point Cesar grew highly agitated and violent, and had to be transferred to the medical ward of the jail for further care.

Mclain (2009) notes that immigration in the United States has created enormous demographic changes since the 1960's. He notes that the utility of definition, identification, and consciousness are critical in the question of how immigrants adjust to and live in new communities. In the case of Cesar the issues are two-fold. First, he entered the country illegally and failed to legalize is status. Nevertheless, he has lived and worked in his community for six years, and he now has a young daughter to care for and support. The question at hand is how doctors and medical workers in the jail can best meet his health needs while still responding to the serious issue at hand -- his pending deportation.

Sullivan and Rehm (2005) note that the majority of illegal immigrants in the United States may live with a variety of mental health disorders due to the trauma and isolation that results from living without the legal rights of citizenship. Services providers, including doctors, nurses, and psychologists have the complicated task of offering high quality, human-centered services despite the fact that these individuals are viewed as criminals in the eyes of the United States government.