By MANUEL DE LA CRUZ
Associated Press Writer

Mexican authorities are investigating a group of doctors who allegedly refused to treat an illegal Nicaraguan migrant whose leg later had to be amputated, a health official said Friday.

Yasser Vilchez Grant, 26, told police that doctors at the Tapachula General Hospital in Mexico's southern Chiapas state declined to treat a foot infection that he developed after stepping on a nail while running from Mexican immigration officers.

He complained that the doctors offered him 500,000 pesos ($38,000) to withdraw a complaint he filed against them, which he declined, according to a Chiapas Health Department official.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the case.

Several of the doctors have been suspended pending a negligence investigation that could cost them their medical licenses and result in criminal charges, the official said.

Doctors worldwide often take a Hippocratic oath vowing not to turn away patients.

Vilchez Grant, who is diabetic, has gone into hiding for fear of reprisals, the London-based human rights group Amnesty International said Friday in a statement. The group is asking Mexico to give him a temporary visa so he can stay in the country to testify against the doctors.

According to Amnesty's account of the incident, Vilchez was fleeing Mexican immigration authorities that were rounding up illegal migrants in the town of Arriaga on Feb. 20 when he stepped on the nail. He hid for two days in hills around the town and then spent three days walking to the General Hospital in the city of Tapachula.

Vilchez told police that a doctor said he disliked migrants and would not treat him. Vilchez says he repeatedly sought medical care at the hospital, at one point crawling on the floor and pulling at a doctor's pants to plead for help.

A migrants' shelter eventually got Vilchez admitted to the hospital, which amputed his leg at the thigh on March 12 because the infection had spread.

As he recovered at the shelter, a man warned Vilchez that he would face serious repercussions for refusing to take cash to keep quiet about the incident, Amnesty said.

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants cross through Mexico each year in an attempt to reach the U.S., but many report being robbed, assaulted or shaken down for money - sometimes by police or immigrant traffickers.

"Many migrants are seriously injured during their journey north and reports of inadequate medical attention are common," Amnesty said.