Michigan Hospital Suggests Fundraising for Heart Transplant

GREAT RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) – A Grand Rapids-based hospital system has refused a heart transplant to a 60-year-old woman because of funding problems, recommending instead to raise $ 10,000 for the procedure itself.

Spectrum Health's Heart & Lung specialty care clinics informed Hedda Martin in a letter of November 20 that she was not eligible for the transplant because she did not have the necessary funding for the necessary medications. to prevent his body from rejecting the new organ, The Detroit Free. Press reported.

Martin posted the letter on his Facebook page the next day, explaining that the hospital wanted to ensure that it could pay the $ 700 monthly fee for anti-rejection drugs, while the annual deductible from his insurance plan illness was $ 4,500.

Spectrum Health stated that it was his duty to ensure that the donor's organs "remain viable" and that costs are a factor in the decision-making process.

"While our primary focus is the patient's medical needs, the fact is that transplants require lifelong care and immunosuppression medications, so costs are sometimes a regrettable and inevitable factor in the decision-making process." said the hospital.

Elected Republican Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York drew attention to the situation by a tweet on Saturday criticizing the fundraising recommendation, saying people would "die if they could not reach the goal in time" .

Martin told MLive.com that she thought the Spectrum administrators could have handled the situation better.

"I will get better and I will fight to my last breath against injustice and greed in our health and pharmacy sectors," Martin said.

Martin's son, Alex Britt, said his congestive heart failure was linked to the chemotherapy she received in 2005 for breast cancer. Britt created a GoFundMe page for Martin, which reached over $ 17,000 on Monday.