U.S. hospitals give Iraqis a 2nd chance

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An 8-month-old Iraqi girl with a possibly fatal growth in her neck arrived at a Columbus, Ohio, hospital yesterday, weeks after her parents carried her into a U.S. military base in Iraq.

She is the latest in a growing number of Iraqis brought out of the war zone to receive treatment for life-threatening diseases by doctors in the United States or in other countries.

Although a spokesman at the Pentagon said, "There is by no means a program" in place for bringing such Iraqis to the United States, the case of Fatemah Hassan is "not the only" one of its kind.

Fatemah is the third Iraqi child to receive treatment at Columbus Children's Hospital. But she is the first to land there specifically through military channels.

The other two children, both of whom had "extensive congenital heart defects since birth," were brought to Columbus by Iraqi and U.S. humanitarian groups, said hospital spokeswoman Pamela Barber.

Military officials could not say exactly how many Iraqis have been brought to the United States for medical treatment, but Navy Lt. Cmdr. Daniel D. Hetlage, a spokesman at the Pentagon, said the number is "in the teens."

"Since there is not a program for this, it's handled on a case-by-case basis," he said.

Such efforts rely on a coordination among military doctors, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq and the United Nations International Office for Migration.

James Haveman, who until recently served as the CPA's senior adviser for health, said the United States is one of several countries with hospitals and doctors willing to take on extra civilian patients from the war zone.

"King Hussein hospital in Jordan is committed to take 100 kids [from Iraq] this year," he said, adding that at least 30 already have been brought to that country, which shares a border with Iraq.