"For Illegal Immigrant, Line is Drawn at Transplant"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/nyregion/illegal-immigrants-transplant-cheaper-over-life-isnt-covered.html?hp


     The article discusses a waiter in his 30's who needs to replace his failing kidneys.  His younger brother volunteered to donate a kidney to Angel yet the government won't allow for this to happen.  The reasoning: Angel is an illegal immigrant.  Therefore, the government will pay for a lifetime of dialysis, costing $75,000 a year but will not pay for the $100,000 transplant.  For two years now him and his brother have been trying to find a way to get the transplant yet they continue to run into laws, private insurance conundrums, and ethical quandaries.  They have come to the national impasse between health care and immigration policies, a very interesting paradox.  Who knows what will happen next but personally I think we should ship Angel him back to Mexico.  I know that sounds heartless, and it may be, but if he had come into this country legally, there would be no problems whatsoever and this article wouldn't exist.
     The author mostly appealed to the rhetorical strategy of pathos.  He did so by causing the reader to feel bad for Angel, or at least that is what he intended.  In my case I was not persuaded but Bernstein, the author, made a few good points as to why we should care for  him.  First off, she pointed out the fact that it would be cheaper to give Angel a transplant rather than dialysis for the rest of his life.  Also, she especially appealed to emotion by saying that American "nurses and doctors and technicians are morally obligated, and legally obligated, to provide that life-saving care".  This really makes you feel bad for Angel, but it is kind of his own fault.