One morning a few months ago Dora Sanchez’s son, Sigifredo, woke with a temperature of 104.8 degees and a splitting headache. He also complained of a loss of feeling in his arms and legs. Sanchez rushed her son to the nearest hospital emergency room near her home in Mission, where they spent the next four hours being shuttled between waiting rooms. When a doctor finally arrived, he quickly diagnosed Sigifredo with bronchitis and assured Dora there was no need to worry. It was nothing a cycle of Tylenol couldn’t cure.

He wrote out a prescription and sent them on their way Sigifredo’s condition, howev er, persisted. Sensing the doc tor hadn’t taken enough time to give a thorough diagnosis Dora packed her son into the car once more and headed for Centro Medico Internacional in Matamoros.