Youth Dies as Medical Treatment Is Delayed : Health care: Parents say they feared being reported if they went to hospital. Latino activists say they regard the boy as a victim of Prop. 187.

ANAHEIM —  Latino community leaders Tuesday cited the death of a 12-year-old Anaheim boy as the first casualty of Proposition 187.

Julio Cano, a seventh-grader at Sycamore Junior High School in Anaheim, died after his illegal-immigrant parents delayed seeking medical treatment--out of fear, the parents said, that a hospital would report them to immigration officials.

“If it weren’t for Proposition 187, the first day he felt sick we would have taken him to the hospital,” his father, Constantino, who has a different last name than his son and asked that it not be used because of his immigration status, said in Spanish.

“This law, it won’t give any medical attention, not even to kids, only if they are in a coma or something,” he said.

Proposition 187 allows for emergency health care, but denies illegal immigrants other health services, along with public education and social services. It requires that health care workers report suspected illegal immigrants to the government.

Ruth Coffey, head of a group that worked for passage of Proposition 187, said Tuesday that the Anaheim family’s story is not believable. “I don’t care what language they speak,” she said. “Everybody knows this is not in effect yet.”

Most provisions of the law have not been enforced, under court order, but many illegal immigrants are unaware of that, Latino activists said.

Julio fell ill early last week, complaining of a cough that sent pain shooting down his back. But his father said he and his wife were afraid to go to a hospital and postponed seeking help until they could raise the $60 to take Julio to a private doctor on Friday.

By Saturday morning, Julio was dead of unknown causes.

Autopsy results are pending, and it was unknown Tuesday whether the boy’s death could have been prevented if his family had sought free medical attention earlier at a government clinic.

But Latino activists say Julio’s case highlights the extent of fear and misinformation swirling through the immigrant community.

“For goodness sakes, this is a case that should never have happened,” said Amin David, chairman of Los Amigos of Orange County, which focuses on Latino community issues. “The victims of Prop. 187 are preponderantly children, and here it is.”

John Palacio, an official with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in Orange County, said that while his organization is still gathering information about the case, he believes that Proposition 187 is keeping people away from medical services.

“One thing is clear. . . . People are not sure whether or not to go to a hospital or community health clinic because of the passage of Proposition 187,” Palacio said.

At the family’s one-bedroom apartment Tuesday, Julio’s mother, Rosa, sobbed as she cradled her 1-month-old baby and welcomed a stream of visitors, including the boy’s art teacher and the principal at his school.

Julio was a shy, bright boy who wanted to be a lawyer, picked up English quickly and tutored other recent arrivals who spoke only Spanish, said Sycamore Principal Pat Savage.

Staff and students at the school collected $800 for the family Tuesday. Anaheim firefighters had raised $600 for the family, and several churches have begun fund-raising efforts. Constantino said the family does not have the money to claim Julio’s body from the morgue, let alone pay the $2,800 costs of burial.

“I know that the students were devastated. He was good friends with so many of them,” Savage said.

Savage said that Julio was out sick last week. On Wednesday, he came to school for about three hours and complained of feeling ill.

“He went to a health clerk (at the school) twice, but he had no fever at all,” Savage said. “He would not tell anybody what was wrong because he knew that his parents didn’t have the money to take him to the doctor.”

Constantino and Rosa moved to Orange County from Acapulco four years ago. Julio and the couple’s older children, ages 13 and 11, were born in Mexico and joined their parents here three years ago. They are all undocumented, Constantino said.

The couple’s younger children, ages 1 month and 1 year, were born in the United States.

Even before the passage of Proposition 187, the couple was unsure where to seek medical care, they said. The older children carry Medi-Cal cards ensuring only emergency and pregnancy-related services.

Constantino and his wife said that a daughter had been denied care at a Garden Grove Hospital once because her condition was not deemed an emergency, and Rosa said she once went to the UC Irvine Medical Center seeking a free pregnancy test and was turned away.

“We have two babies here who were born here. If they deport us, what would the smaller children do without us?” Constantino said. “We were worried they would ask us for our documents.”

The father said he waited until Friday to take his son to the doctor because that is payday at the factory where he works. They went to the Family Medical Clinic, a private facility.

The mother said her son’s condition worsened quickly after his visit to the clinic.

Joe Gutierrez, an Anaheim Fire Department captain and paramedic, said Julio was not breathing and his heart was not beating when his team arrived at the family’s home Saturday morning.

After paramedics attempted unsuccessfully to revive him, the youngster was transported to Anaheim Memorial Hospital where further attempts at resuscitation failed.

* PROP. 187 BAN EXTENDED: A court ban on implementing most portions of Proposition 187 is extended. B1