MINNEAPOLIS: The family of a student from Pakistan who has been comatose since a November car crash is trying to prevent a US hospital from sending him back to his home country.

Mohammad Shahzaib Bajwa, 20, was spending a semester at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. On Nov 13, he and his friends were driving when their car struck a deer, his brother, Shahraiz Bajwa, said on Tuesday.

Shahzaib Bajwa suffered severe facial fractures but was talking when he arrived at a hospital.

He choked on blood there and went into cardiac arrest but was resuscitated and transferred to Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Centre in Minnesota, his brother said.

A hospital spokeswoman said Shahzaib Bajwa won't be able to stay in the country legally after his student visa expires Feb 28. Essentia has pressured the Bajwa family to sign consent forms to return the student to Pakistan, a flight that would take 24 hours, Shahraiz Bajwa said. A hospital spokeswoman said Bajwa won't be able to stay in the country legally after his student visa expires Feb 28.

''If we take him back to Pakistan, this is certainly pushing him toward death,” Shahraiz Bajwa said.

“We don't want him to die in a miserable condition in a third-world country. It's better if he stays here.''

Shahzaib Bajwa suffered brain damage from the heart attack and remains comatose.

Though he can open his eyes, squeeze his mother's hand, shrug his shoulders and has some movement in his legs, doctors have told the family it'll take a couple more years to find out how much more he will recover, Shahraiz Bajwa said.

It's not unusual for US hospitals seeking to curb high costs to effectively deport foreign citizens back home, even when they're comatose, an Associated Press review found last year.

Shahraiz Bajwa said the hospital bill has reached about $350,000. Hospitals typically pay for the flights for these “medical repatriations,” often without consulting any courts or federal agencies, the AP's review found.

Essentia spokeswoman Maureen Talarico said the hospital is making arrangements with the State Department to transport Shahzaib Bajwa to Pakistan.

''This is an unfortunate situation and his caregivers are working closely with Mr Bajwa's family to ensure the smoothest transition possible,” she said in an email.

Shahzaib Bajwa's health insurance policy through his exchange programme has a cap of $100,000, and his brother said Essentia has chosen to absorb the costs and not tap that policy so the money would be available for his care in Pakistan.

The family's immigration attorney, Saiko McIvor, said they're exploring their legal options for finding a way for the student to stay.—AP