Articles labeled: hispanics

A woman in Carpentersville, Illinois, claims that when her babysitter called 911 when her child was in distress, the paramedics refused to take the baby to the hospital simply because he was Hispanic:

The federal lawsuit said the village “had a practice and/or policy to limit emergency medical services to persons of Hispanic ancestry.”

Gloria Lopez, 28, who now lives in Elgin, alleges paramedics Diane Graham and Martin Gruber acted with gross negligence and violated 4-month-old Osbiel Lopez’s civil rights in failing to take him to a hospital after a 911 call in September 2006.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago claims the event was part of a villagewide effort to reduce services to Hispanics.

Come on, really? Paramedics just thought they would let a baby die because he had brown skin? Paramedics who work in a Chicago suburb of 30,000 people, 40% of whom identify themselves as Hispanic? Maybe that’s why they took jobs in that town, so they could get their jollies treating Mexicans like shit. Please.

While the door is open for certainly some sort of negligence that may have gone on here, this seems like a spurious use of the race card that hurts folks that have legitimate reasons for playing that hand.