16 year old gives organs but family can't pay bills...

[Rerun]

This will open at the bottom of the page, so you will have to scroll up to read the article.

http://www.krem.com/topstories/stories/krem2-012109-lorissa.16ec1a97.html?ocp=1#slcgm_comments_anchor

On the local news this girls family and friends have taken to the streets of Spokane to collect money for hospital bills and funeral expenses.

It doesn't look like she donated her kidneys but her heart, lungs and liver went to others.

I logged on to this news site and gave my speech about how the donor's family should be compensated for something.  Medical bills, funeral expenses SOMETHING!

We need to fight for this!  This is just CRAP!  Her funeral is tomorrow and the family is trying to raise funds by standing out in the street?  Is this a 3rd world country or what?

[Wallyz]

Shameful.  I can't believe we can't address this as communities.

[Chris]

Wasn't this something the NKF was against, compensation for donating in a post okarol posted some time ago.

Hopefully the funeral home is cutting them some slack. It would give them some publicity to their business if they did so, so it would be a win win situation for the family and the funeral home.

[Rerun]

What I would like is for everyone to go on this site and just SHAME the heck out of the hospital for even giving the family a Bill.  I don't know which hospital, and you don't need a name.

[okarol]

Here's the whole article:

In her death Lorissa gave life

01:36 PM PST on Thursday, January 22, 2009
BY KEVIN BLOCKER; KREM.com

CHENEY -- Debbie Hammel had a previous discussion with daughter Lorissa Green about being an organ donor.

Little did mom know that on her own accord Lorissa would make that decision without informing her.

The 16-year-old Cheney High School sophomore died Friday night after a two vehicle accident on Highway 195 near the Cheney Spokane Road.

The official investigation states Green failed to yield while entering an intersection. She was then hit by an oncoming truck.

In the days since her death; however, Lorissa's heart was donated to an 18-year-old girl, her liver went to a 21-year-old, a portion of her shoulder blade went to boy who was nearly crushed to death in a separate accident and her lungs were donated to a woman.

"I didn't know she had signed up to be an organ donor; I'm so proud of her," Hammel told KREM.com on Wednesday morning. "It was like she knew it would be hard for me, she took that responsibility out of my hands."

As a survivor Hammel admitted the process of organ donation was harder than she thought.

For three days Lorissa's heart was kept beating in an ICU. Doctors declared her brain dead Friday night.

Hammel said it was heart wrenching to watch her daughter's body begin to recover in such a short period of time but knowing that she was brain dead.

"One of her lungs was badly damaged and doctors didn't think it would be any good (for organ donation)," she said. "But sure enough it healed."

Lorissa's death follows the death of her father who was killed in a recreational accident in North Idaho last August.

"She was just a great kid; so full of life," Hammel said.

Lorissa's funeral services are scheduled for Monday.

After that, Hammel said her next steps will be to start a campaign to see that safety changes are made at the intersection where her daughter was killed.

"We've lived out here six years and it continues to get worse," Hammel said. "That intersection needs to be changed."
.................

[Chris]

I left a comment there, but not as elequent.