2nd person denied Ariz. transplant coverage dies

[YLGuy]

2nd person denied Ariz. transplant coverage dies

By PAUL DAVENPORT, Associated Press – Wed Jan 5, 9:01 pm ET
PHOENIX – A second person denied transplant coverage by Arizona under a state budget cut has died, with this death "most likely" resulting from the coverage reduction, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.
University Medical Center spokeswoman Jo Marie Gellerman said the patient died Dec. 28 at another medical facility after earlier being removed from UMC's list for a liver transplant needed because of hepatitis C.
Gellerman cited medical privacy requirements in declining to release any information about the patient.
Arizona reduced Medicaid coverage for transplants on Oct. 1 under cuts included to help close a shortfall in the state budget enacted last spring.
Officials at the Tucson, Ariz., hospital said the patient's death "most likely" resulted from Arizona's scaling back coverage for transplants, she said.
It's impossible to say with 100 percent certainty whether the patient would have died anyway, Gellerman said, "but we do know that his condition has gotten more severe since he was taken off the list."
The patient's worsening condition would have elevated his place on the list, she added.
A Phoenix-area man, Mark Price, died Nov. 28 of complications from preparation for a bone-marrow transplant that was to be privately funded. That funding was provided anonymously after The Associated Press and other media outlets reported that he was notified of two possible donors on Oct. 1, the same day the coverage was reduced.
The second person's death was reported by KOLD-TV in Tucson and the Arizona Guardian.
Democrats and other critics have slammed Republican Gov. Jan Brewer and the Republican-led Legislature for the transplant coverage reduction, and incoming Senate Minority Leader David Schapira called on them to restore the approximately $1.4 million of funding.
"Failure to restore this funding is a death sentence for people who have committed no crimes," he said.
Contacted for comment on the latest death, Brewer spokeswoman Paul Senseman said the governor's office didn't have confirmation that the person was enrolled in the state Medicaid program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
Brewer earlier Wednesday renewed her defense of the transplant coverage reduction but expressed a willingness to have it reviewed.
"It's something that probably needs to be discussed," Brewer said. "Eveybody is concerned about it, as I am. The bottom line is ... that was one of those areas that we could cut and we moved forward on that."
Brewer commented when asked by a reporter about a legislative committee chairman's intention to review the transplant cutbacks during a future budget hearing.
Brewer and Republican lawmakers want to drop approximately 250,000 people from AHCCCS enrollment because of the state's continuing budget troubles and the impending loss of federal stimulus funding that has propped up spending on the Medicaid program.
Arizona faces a projected $1.4 billion shortfall in its next state budget.
Brewer has said she will ask President Barack Obama's administration for a waiver permitting the enrollment reduction. The federal health care overhaul otherwise bars the enrollment reduction.

[cariad]

Shame on governor Brewer.

Saw this last night on Keith Olbermann and was going to post about it, but glad to see you did so first, Marc. Olbermann is referring to this as "Arizona's Death Panel" and I defy anyone to argue that it isn't. They were dropped from Medicaid and could not get transplants.

One person in Arizona was denied a directed cadaver donation (a friend of the family died and tried to leave his/her liver to this person) but because the potential recipient no longer had insurance he could not get the transplant and had to let it go to someone who was insured.

Death panels indeed! It makes me want to punch something. Or boycott Arizona, but since I never go there and would not be caught dead there today, who would notice?

[paris]

Arizona is messed up!  I love the state -- gorgeous place to visit.  I couldn't live there and put up with these kind of issues.   I like the sentence about not being 100% certain whether the patient would have died anyway.  What part of "life saving transplant" do they not understand??  I am tired of everyone thinking this isn't a life or death issue.  They would if their name was on the list!!    Sorry for ranting, but this is just about the stupidest thing I have heard!   I am so angry about this. 

[cariad]

I just watched the first 10 minutes of Anderson 360 on CNN, and he talked about the Arizona death panel and one of his guests was a man in desperate need of a heart transplant. So sad! He cannot get on the list because of these cuts, and his heart only functions at 6%. Hearing him say "I'm a good person" as if, in America, you have to prove you are worthy of being given medical care nearly did my head in. Governor Brewer has not addressed the many, many suggestions, from both experts and laypeople, on how these transplants could be afforded. I hope the universe takes note and sends the karma bus on a mission.

Anderson Cooper is also going to cover the release of the two sisters from prison and the transplant aspect of that.

[MooseMom]

I saw this on AC360, too, and what was particularly frustrating was the fact that there have been many suggestions on how to fund these operations, but Gov Brewer won't seem to listen.  This doesn't have to happen.  OMG, the man they interviewed who needed the heart transplant has a heart the size of a football and only 6% of it is working.  He contracted a virus that destroyed his heart...such a random event.  Maybe someone rich person will come along and help fund it.  Maybe Senator McCain could sell one of his houses and help out.

[cariad]

I just heard that one of Arizona's Democratic reps - Gabriella Giffords - has been shot in the head!!!

They are not saying this is a political statement, but flipping heck, if it is, this is NO WAY to get attention to your cause. Of course, most likely a democratic rep would be for transplant funding, so I doubt there is any connection to this issue specifically. They seem to think it is a lone nutter..... I hope she is OK.

What a violent country we live in.

[MooseMom]

Yeah...they are not sure if she is still alive...conflicting reports.  It will take some time before we know what happened and why, but if this was politically motivated, it would be extremely frightening.  Political assassination in the US...that would be tragic on many levels.

[YLGuy]

I posted another thread regarding this.  One very disturbing fact is that Giffords was on Sara Palin's "Target Map" with cross-hares on her. 

http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=21518.msg355943#msg355943

[cariad]

Oops, sorry, Marc. Did not see it. I'll be right over to check it out....

[cariad]

Yeah...they are not sure if she is still alive...conflicting reports.  It will take some time before we know what happened and why, but if this was politically motivated, it would be extremely frightening.  Political assassination in the US...that would be tragic on many levels.

Sheesh, and the report I saw over lunch was so blase about it. They just said she had been shot, they made it sound like just a graze.

[MooseMom]

She is in surgery right now.  Several people were injured and are in surgery, too, including a child.  Hopefully no one will need a transplant as a result of their gunshot wounds.

[okarol]

Twelve people were shot. Many were airlifted to hospitals. I am praying for them all. Sickening event.

[cariad]

Lucky that there was an ER doctor on the scene. Sounds like he did all he could, but gunshot to the head does not bode well.