| News From Transplant Week of June 10, 2001 / Vol. 2 No. 23 |
|
11-Year-Old Girl, Denied in Chicago, to Get Liver Transplant in Miami |
|
An 11-year-old Chicago girl may receive a life-saving liver transplant at the University of Miami Jackson Transplant Center after Chicago hospitals refused to perform the operation because her mother is an illegal alien and does not have insurance. Ana Eaparza, who with her mother Maria Munoz moved from Mexico to Chicago nine years ago, has hepatitis and has been treated for the past two years by Children's Memorial Hospital. According to doctors, she will need a liver transplant before the end of the summer. A spokesman for Children's Memorial Hospital said the hospital would not perform the transplant because it would not be reimbursed by Medicaid because of the child's immigration status. "A year's worth of care would cost about a half million dollars," said spokesperson Julie Pesch. "We're not in a financial situation to do that." So Ana and her mother have flown to Miami, where doctors have agreed to perform the surgery. "We have made a very conscious decision not to turn down any child," said Dr. Andreas Tzakis, director of the University of Miami liver transplant program. The child's father, Juan Esparza, a beer truck driver who still lives in the central Mexican state of Aguascalientes, is undergoing tests to determine if he is a suitable candidate to donate part of his liver to his daughter. If the child's father turns out to be a suitable donor, the transplant could take place in four to eight weeks. Otherwise, she will be placed on the waiting list for a cadaver donor. "The liver transplant needs to be done soon. It does not need to be done immediately unless some catastrophic complication were to come up," Tzakis said. "I want to give thanks to the doctors because they don't want to let a child down and they want to make their dreams come true," Ana told reporters in Miami. She said her dream is to "play like a normal kid" and grow up to be a nurse. Other Sources: University of Miami, AP |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
