Re: Financial assitance with Liver Transplant

Posted By Tony on August 18, 1998 at 00:07:45:

In Reply to: Re: Financial assitance with Liver Transplant posted by HFHSM.D.-DM on August 16, 1998 at 19:19:55:






Hello everyone,
I have a brother who is in desperate need of a liver transplant. The problem is not the wait for a liver donor, but the fact that he has no health insurance to cover for the care or the transplant. Actually, he has health insurance but it only covers if the transplant is performed in Australia. He's an Australian citizen. But, the docotors in Australis refuse to perform a transplant because they claim that he is too weak to go through the liver transplant. So, as a final hope, he decided to turn to the doctors in the U.S. To make the long story short, a liver specialist in the U.S. is ready to perform the transplant when a liver donor is found. However, they require a $100,000 deposit in order to start the process. They say that it will total $200,000 for the entire process. The only problem is, I don't have $100,000 to put down. I've applied for loans but I've been turned down since I don't have anything that values $100,000. Are there any organizations that help people in this delima. Or maybe a place that will offer financial assistance. I've thought of running a fund raiser, but I have no idea how to get one started.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.



_______
Dear Tony:
I am extremely sympathetic to your situation.  I cant imagine a more painful situation than not having the funds to pay for a potentially helpful medical procedure.  We periodically have patients in the same situation with our liver transplant program at Henry Ford.  I will try to give you as many suggestions as I can.  
First of all, I would leave no stone uncovered to find out why you cant get the transplant in Australia.  If your brother truly has a medical contraindication to liver transplant than most centers in the US would hesitate before doing liver transplant as well.  Even if a center in the US did agree to do it, he may not have a realistic chance of doing well.  If he does not have an appropriate contraindication to transplant, I would push the physicians in Australia to reconsider.  I might get an opinion from a second transplant center and I would enlist the aid of local politicians and even the media if you are not getting appropriate or meaningful answers.
If you do have to get the transplant in the US, the financial obstacles will be difficult.  The numbers you were quoted are reasonable ones.  When he have patients with no financial resources, we suggest they contact organizations with which they may have an affiliation such as a church, a veterans organization, an ethnic counsel and again local politicians.  Often these organizations will have funds or resources they can bring to a situation like this.  Finally, I am going to give you the phone number of the American Liver Foundation and you can see if they have any additional ideas.  Their number is [phone].
I hope this information is helpful to you.  Good luck to you and your brother with your most trying circumstances.   If you have any additional questions or concerns, you can post them through MEDHELP or contact us directly at Henry Ford.  The direct number to our liver clinic is: [phone].
This response is being provided for general informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice or consultation.  Always check with your personal physician when you have a question physician when you have a question pertaining to your health.