Hospital Wants To Be Paid For Treating Farmworker Suits May Be Filed Against Farmer, County, Idaho And Farm Equipment Manufacturer

An attorney representing the University of Utah Medical Center has filed a lien on any settlement collected in the name of a migrant farmworker who lost three limbs to a power post-hole digger.

Javier Tellez Juarez, 23, lost two arms and a leg on Dec. 13 while building fences on a southern Idaho farm.

He continues to show steady improvement, and doctors anticipate he could be released from the hospital in a week or 10 days. But he is not covered by workman’s compensation and is not eligible for federal medical programs.

The lien means the Salt Lake City hospital could go after any money available to pay the hospital bill which is climbing toward $500,000.”We wouldn’t be talking today if there wasn’t an agricultural exemption to worker’s compensation” in Idaho.

Hospital spokesman John Dwan said a decision was made Friday that the trust funds set up to help the Juarez family were inviolable.

“We will not go after the personal donations made to the Juarez family,” he said. “We have decided that would not be in keeping with the spirit in which they were given, and besides that, they need that money.

“On the other hand, that bill must be paid” and revenue sources such as Medicaid, the Idaho County Indigent Trust Fund and insurance policies are fair game, Dwan said.

Dwan was sharply critical of the farmworkers exemption in Idaho. He said it is unlikely that the hospital will ever be able to collect anywhere near the total of Juarez’s medical bill.

“So that means that the taxpayers of Utah will end up having to absorb the medical costs of Idaho farmworkers. And that should not be acceptable,” he said.

Juarez’s lawyer, Michael Martinez, said the lien, filed Thursday in the Salt Lake County Recorder’s office, forces him to pursue all avenues to collect the money to pay the hospital bill.

That means lawsuits may be filed against Tracy Farms, where the accident happened; Cassia County; the state of Idaho; the post-hole digger manufacturer and others, Martinez said.

“The hospital is going to get their money one way or another and then kick him out the door with nothing,” he said.