[Vision2020] What Was That About Death Panels?

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of CBS News at:

http://tinyurl.com/Arizona-Heart-Patient-Dies

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2nd Person Denied Ariz. Transplant Coverage Dies
Hospital: 2nd Person Dies After Being Denied Transplant Coverage Under
Arizona Budget Cuts

PHOENIX (AP) - 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 Tucson hospital 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.

Hospital officials 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.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown