On the November 14 broadcast of his 630 KHOW-AM show, host Peter Boyles distorted a June 12 Dallas Morning News article to criticize Parkland Memorial Hospital, a Dallas-area charity hospital that serves indigents, many of whom are immigrants. Boyles falsely claimed that a Mexican woman featured in the article would be “going to another hospital” because "[t]his time the hospital wants her to pay 10 dollars a visit and a hundred dollars for the delivery." However, the woman quoted in the article, Gloria Corona, indicated she was at Parkland to confirm she was pregnant and that if she was, she “want[ed] to pay for [having] the baby” at Parkland. Later in the broadcast, Boyles contradicted his assertion that the woman was deterred by the required payment, by claiming maternity care at Parkland is free for illegal immigrants “simply because they're illegals.”

The News article interviewed several female Hispanic immigrants who have received care at Parkland. Details in the article Boyles read describe two of the women, Corona and Beatriz Aviles, although he did not name either of them or distinguish between the two.

During the broadcast, Boyles falsely claimed that a Hispanic woman cited in the News article was “pregnant with her third child” and “was grateful” because "[h]er first two deliveries [at Parkland] were free" but that "[t]his time the hospital wants her to pay 10 dollars a visit and a hundred dollars for a delivery, so she's going to another hospital":

BOYLES: Well, this is in the Dallas Morning News article. They followed a Hispanic woman [Gloria Corona] who was a patient at one of the clinics and pregnant with her third child. Her previously two children were born at Parkland. Her first two deliveries were free. She's from Mexico. She was grateful because it would have cost her 200 dollars to have them in Mexico. This time the hospital wants her to pay 10 dollars a visit and a hundred dollars for the delivery, so she's going to another hospital. But regardless, the hospital won't turn her away.

The News article included an interview with Corona, a Mexican woman it reported “was back at the [Parkland] prenatal clinic for the first time in four years, convinced that she was pregnant with her third child but wanting to find out for sure.” The article noted that Corona, speaking through a translator, “expressed gratitude for the Parkland staff having taught her to stay away from alcohol, to eat vegetables and fruits and to drink lots of water during her [first two] pregnancies” and that "[s]he also was grateful that Parkland charged her nothing for the first two deliveries." Corona said that “she would have had to pay $200 for a hospital delivery” in Mexico because she had no health insurance.

According to the News, “The hospital has begun asking all women to pay something toward their bills -- at least $10 per prenatal visit and an additional $100 toward the eventual delivery costs.” Contrary to Boyles's false claim, nowhere in the article did Corona say that she would go “to another hospital” because “the hospital wants her to pay.” In fact, the News reported:

Mrs. Corona said she wanted to pay something but the amount would depend on whether her husband was working. “I want to pay for the baby,” she said, “because they give me the good care here.”

Further, the News article pointed out that, "[u]nder a 1986 federal law, called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, pregnant women cannot be turned away by a hospital if they are in need of emergency help, such as being in labor. Hospitals that deny care to such patients face a $50,000 fine and termination from the Medicare program." However, contradicting his statement that Corona will have to pay for services, Boyles claimed that “medical care is free simply because they're illegals.” In fact, as the News reported, “Parkland's free maternity care has effectively ended” and "[t]he hospital has begun asking all women to pay something toward their bills -- at least $10 per prenatal visit and an additional $100 toward the eventual delivery costs."

From the November 14 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: Well, this is in the Dallas Morning News article. They followed a Hispanic woman [Gloria Corona] who was a patient at one of the clinics and pregnant with her third child. Her previously two children were born at Parkland. Her first two deliveries were free. She's from Mexico. She was grateful because it would have cost her 200 dollars to have them in Mexico. This time the hospital wants her to pay 10 dollars a visit and a hundred dollars for the delivery, so she's going to another hospital. But regardless, the hospital won't turn her away.

CALLER: Uh-huh.

BOYLES: And how long has this been going on? Well, the subject of the article [Beatriz Aviles] was born in Parkland in 1986, and her mother came into the country illegally. Now she's having her own child there. And they get free prenatal care: medication, nutrition, birthing classes, child care classes. They get freebies, car seats, bottles, diapers, and formula.

The women are illegal immigrants, don't have proof of any sort of legitimate identification -- no proof of income. An American citizen would have to provide Social Security number, which would reveal their annual income. An illegal claims only to be poor and a hospital must take them at their word with a translator.

CALLER: Uh-huh. And so they don't have to drive to Timbuktu to go to a hospital.

BOYLES: Parkland Hospital. And it's -- I don't know. The illegals' medical care is free simply because they're illegals.

From the June 12 Dallas Morning News article by Sherry Jacobson, “Parkland will treat all moms-to-be”:

Under a 1986 federal law, called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, pregnant women cannot be turned away by a hospital if they are in need of emergency help, such as being in labor. Hospitals that deny care to such patients face a $50,000 fine and termination from the Medicare program.

[...]

Gloria Corona, 31, was back at the [Parkland] prenatal clinic for the first time in four years, convinced that she was pregnant with her third child but wanting to find out for sure. Her boys, 4 and 5 years old, were born at Parkland.

Speaking through a translator, Mrs. Corona expressed gratitude for the Parkland staff having taught her to stay away from alcohol, to eat vegetables and fruits and to drink lots of water during her pregnancies.

She also was grateful that Parkland charged her nothing for the first two deliveries. In her native Mexico, she would have had to pay $200 for a hospital delivery, the equivalent of four to six weeks' pay there, because she had no health insurance, she said.

A cheaper alternative in Mexico would have been a birthing center, which uses less-skilled staff but still costs about $50.

“The care they give here is a lot more personal for me and the baby,” said the immaculately dressed woman.

As its patient load has increased, however, Parkland's free maternity care has effectively ended, Mrs. Corona said. The hospital has begun asking all women to pay something toward their bills -- at least $10 per prenatal visit and an additional $100 toward the eventual delivery costs.

Mrs. Corona said she wanted to pay something but the amount would depend on whether her husband was working. “I want to pay for the baby,” she said, “because they give me the good care here.”

The women who rely on the Vickery Prenatal Clinic are mainly Hispanic, although there are black women and the occasional Eastern European refugee. Of the eight patients interviewed randomly that day, three were from Collin County, which does not have a tax-supported hospital to provide obstetrics care.

[...]

Beatriz Aviles, 20, told a more complicated story about her travel from Mexico to Dallas, where she shares a large apartment with her boyfriend's extended family.

She met Cesar Chamu in Mexico more than two years ago, and he brought her to Dallas, where he had been doing landscape work since 2000. They paid a “coyote,” or guide, $3,000 to get them across the Rio Grande by boat.

Although her advanced pregnancy made her unsteady on her feet, the young woman said she has tried to care for the two children who live in the large apartment and helped cook meals under the watchful eye of Mr. Chamu's mother and elderly aunt.

“Dallas is nice,” she said, although it was not clear how often Ms. Aviles was able to leave the apartment. She hasn't worked since she arrived in Texas in 2004.

Her pregnancy was uncomplicated but a bit frightening, she admitted. She was prone to waking her boyfriend in the middle of the night to complain about the kicking baby.

She ended up at Parkland because the couple had no health insurance and could not afford to go elsewhere. His landscaping job pays about $200 a week, just enough to cover basic living expenses and the couple's share of the $700-a-month rent.

Although they went to great lengths to sneak into Dallas, Ms. Aviles was born at Parkland in 1986, according to the birth certificate she recently obtained.