In the Community

August 14, 2007

Kaiser Permanente Surgeon's Success Story Highlighted in Sacramento Bee

The American debate over illegal immigration perhaps would be better informed if it featured more stories such as that of Kaiser Permanente surgeon Victor Rodriguez, MD.

Rodriguez's story was the topic of a column Friday, Aug. 10, in the Sacramento Bee. Rodriguez, whose family immigrated illegally to California when he was 11, served in the U.S. Marine Corps following his high school graduation, and then graduated from college and medical school. Today he is a surgeon who has performed more than 180 complex open and endovascular aortic surgeries. Rodriguez is based at Kaiser Permanente's South Sacramento Medical Center.

The Bee offered Rodriguez's story as one that should be told at a time when immigration in America is a tense, often contentious topic, fueled more than occasionally by emotion rather than by information.

"I'm not political at all, and I don't like to talk about my life story," Dr. Rodriguez said to reporter Anita Creamer. "But right now with all this anti-immigrant ruckus, I think I owe it to immigrant Americans – not to my people, but to all immigrants in general.

"We do make a difference. One of the reasons this country is great is because of its diversity. I have to admit my family came here illegally, but they were workers. All they wanted was to be able to provide for us."

Read the entire story in the Sacramento Bee (free registration required).

You also can visit Dr. Rodriguez's personal physician page