- RE: problems with donor

[Guest guest]

Once again, , I think you just

MIGHT have hit upon it… Denver

may in fact just have been put through a “wallet” biopsy, and the

hospital is using anything and everything (he has a heart issue, he’s too

old, etcetera) as their reason for declining him… anything but the truth.

Even now, at post-transplant clinic

visits, Jim will occasionally be asked what his insurance is, and what

level. When he utters those three magic letters (“P-P-O”),

they’re all smiles……………… once, he was

told “Oh, we LOVE people like you!”

Jim’s local hepatologist forwarned

me, privately, that Jim would need PPO coverage for the rest of his life if he

was going to be guaranteed the best in post-tx care. Jim doesn’t

share his concern openly with me, but it’s a matter of time, really,

until Jim hits his ceiling of coverage and caps out. I wonder what we’ll

do then?

I wonder what the hospital/tx

center/doctors/tx coordinator would say if you verbally mull about this idea

that Denver may

just have a case (to sue for loss of wages, mileage, etcetera). They’d

put up a fight, citing the heart thing et. al, but you got your own independent

cardiologist to rule that out and declare him healthy as a horse, right? I

guess you have to choose your battles carefully…

One thought – over the course of the

last year or so, has your transplant center experienced a change in surgical

staff? Has there been a change (however slight) in policy… donor

criteria? At USC in Los Angeles,

it’s not uncommon that hepatologists come and go. From Kaiser to

USC, from USC to UCLA, from UCLA to Cedars-Sinai, and back again (so we’ve

been told from the hepatologists themselves). If so, is it possible that

reluctance ha sprung from someone “new” to the team, or, that is, someone

who perhaps verbalized their concerns to the board doing the evaluation.

Just a thought?

We’re pulling for you… keep us

posted on all that you find out, hopefully tomorrow!

Love,

Maureen

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of CrazrNever04@...

Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2006

6:02 AM

To: ; Subject: Re: problems with

donor

Denver is 58,

was 57 when he started. The problem that I have is that they knew exactly

how old he was when they began the process, in Aug.! If he was above the

age of consideration, why did they put him through so many tests already?

These are my questions to them, because currently I am very confused. If they

knew he wasn't eligible and made him go through all of those tests anyway, then

I think they should reimburse him for loss of wages, mileage, etc. That

wasn't fair to him, or to me for that matter. They should have been

honest from the onset.

I'm hoping to get some answers tomorrow.