US woman guilty of "Dying While Citizen"?

And the punishment she'll face may be the death penalty.

How sad: in ITEM #1 [see below] we read about a young American woman who's
dying as her father tries desperately to raise the million dollars needed to
pay for the organ transplants that would save her life.

On the other hand, in ITEM #2 [below] we read a commentary about the 2003
case in which an illegal alien from Mexico was jumped to the head of the line
ahead of thousands of dying and equally-needy citizens of the USA and given
multiple organ transplants gratis. To top it off, and just as tragically on
many levels, the illegal alien who was allowed to cut ahead of the
equally-needy citizens died anyway after being given, at no cost, *multiple*
rare organs any one of which could have saved the life of a dying citizen had
it gone to said citizen.

(And let us not forget the report, from this past weekend, about the US
familywhich was held hostage by a Mexican hospital until it was able to come up
with $15,000 CASH. After a relative drained his bank account and had the money
sent, and confirmed as having been received by the proper hospital authorities,
one hospital employee claimed the money had not been received and demanded
ANOTHER $15,000 in CASH.)

ITEM #1:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,2066062.story

THE STATE
$1-Million Price Tag Keeps Transplant Patient in Limbo

By Cynthia Daniels
Times Staff Writer
February 8, 2004

PALM DESERT — Robert Jaunsen would do anything for a chance to save his
daughter's life — only he needs $1 million to do it.

Jaunsen, a retired San Diego County sheriff's deputy, has become a crusader for
his 20-year-old daughter, who needs a heart-liver transplant. Without it, Kelli
Jaunsen will probably die.

He has written numerous letters to hospitals and politicians, created a website
where visitors can make donations (www.eccoblue.org) and seeks help everywhere
he can. So far he has raised a little more than $100.

The young woman's health insurance does not cover the procedure, and few
hospitals will perform the costly surgery for free.

Before any hospital considers placing her on the transplant list, the family
must present enough money to cover the cost of her surgery and post-surgery
care.

"There's no point in a carwash or bake sale; that doesn't cut it," Jaunsen
said. "We cannot get anywhere with a nickel, a dime and a tin cup. We don't
have that time."

Kelli Jaunsen was born with congenital heart defects, including a condition
that prevented her blood from circulating from her heart to her lungs.

In 20 years, she has had two Fontan surgeries, open-heart procedures to make
her blood bypass her heart and flow from her body to her lungs; laser throat
surgery; implantation of a pacemaker; gallbladder removal; and other
operations.

Over time, the high pressure in her veins has irreversibly damaged her liver,
leaving doctors no choice but to replace her heart and liver.

"Kelli's liver is end stage, and we don't think a heart transplant will fix
that," said Dr. Inger Olson, a pediatric cardiologist at Loma Linda University
Medical Center who has treated the young woman for about three years. "Her
heart is not strong enough to get her through a liver transplant because that's
a major surgery which would probably drive her into heart failure. She might
not survive it."

Last year, one heart-liver transplant was performed in the United States,
according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit organization
that manages transplant data, develops policy and maintains the nationwide
transplant patient waiting list. Data from the network showed only 27
heart-liver transplants had been performed in the United States since 1988,
compared with more than 1,500 kidney-liver transplants during that time.

Although Kelli Jaunsen's doctors say that her surgery is a must, her insurance
provider, the state-run California Children's Services, says she is ineligible
for coverage because more than one organ is failing, said Sharon Robie,
administrative director for Loma Linda University Medical Center's heart
transplant program and a transplant coordinator. Since Loma Linda decided
against performing the surgery for free, Robie has tried to find a hospital
that would. So far, the responses have been the same: Transplant patients
without insurance coverage must present enough money to cover their surgery and
post-surgery care — in Kelli's case, about $1 million — before they are
considered.

"We're trying to stabilize her as best as the doctors can, but we feel a bit
helpless," Robie said. "The technology is available, but the reimbursement is
not."

Kelli Jaunsen, meanwhile, said she left thinking about the future to her
father. She said she was only a little scared about the surgery but eager to
get well, graduate from high school and become a veterinary technician. She
hasn't been to school in 2½ years because of her surgeries and poor health.

"I don't think about it," she said recently. "What's the point? If I thought
about it, then I would be depressed."

But she concedes that there are moments when it all gets to be too much.

"There are times when I fall apart," she said. "It's so hard to get through the
day because of all the problems. I cry because it's so hard. Then I get tired
of crying and get up. It's not easy, but I force myself to do it."

As a youngster, she combined her two loves, animals and photography, into a
hobby, taking pictures of giraffes, birds and other wildlife, and winning her
first photo contest before she turned 14. But today, her condition steals her
energy, confining her to the house, where she plays video games; tends to her
three cats, two birds and a gecko; watches movies; and creates abstract art and
websites. Her nickname, Eccoblue, combines one of her favorite video games,
"Ecco the Dolphin," with her favorite color.

Instead of taking trips to the mall like other young women her age, she visits
the hospital every two to three weeks so doctors can drain the ascites fluid
that builds up in her abdomen.

For Ana Jaunsen, "It's very painful to know about the situation my daughter is
facing. I thought her heart would be fixed and she would be all right and
suddenly … it's terrible."

Chris Jaunsen, 23, has responded to the news by helping his sister lead a
normal life — taking her to the movies and sometimes concerts.

While she pushes herself forward, her dad forces himself to stay positive,
pinning his hopes on doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who
said they would consider performing the surgery but must examine her condition
before making any decisions.

"I honestly don't know what the risks would be or whether this is feasible,"
said Dr. Robert Kormos, a professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh
and director of heart transplantation and the artificial heart program at the
medical center. "But I'm more than happy to put her through the evaluation."

If doctors at the center, which has performed most of the heart-liver
transplants in the nation, agree, the Jaunsens will have to relocate.

Kormos said most heart-liver transplant patients should plan to stay nearby for
as long as six months while waiting for the donated organs and remain in the
area for at least six to eight weeks after the surgery.

The move could be difficult. But if moving will save her, the Jaunsens will do
it.

"Knowing what she's gone through, a life of pain and agony, and she still
smiles," Robert Jaunsen said.

"This kid's special, she's talented and we'll get this thing done one way or
another."

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ITEM #2:

Organ Transplants For Illegal Aliens

By Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid
March 7, 2003

The media’s bias on immigration was on display in the coverage of the
"teenager" who got a botched heart-lung transplant. Eventually, she became an
"immigrant" and then a "Mexican immigrant." But she was really an illegal alien
smuggled into the United States. The information was initially withheld or
played down for obvious reasons. Journalists fear there could be a public
backlash to illegal aliens getting medical care in the U.S. and contributing to
the soaring cost of health care coverage. This case was even more sensitive
because American citizens are on the waiting list for the organs that this
illegal alien received.

The New York Times ran a February 21st story about the ethical dilemma in the
case, but it wasn’t about an illegal alien getting medical care. It was
whether it was proper for Jesica Santillan to get a second set of organs. A
separate story by Jeffrey Gettlemen and Lawrence K. Altman waited until the
26th paragraph to reveal that her family had left illegally from Mexico and
that relatives had paid a smuggler to get them into the U.S. They settled near
hospitals that specialized in the kind of operation the girl needed. Times
reporter Denise Grady said merely that "Ms. Santillan’s family moved from
Mexico to North Carolina three years ago…"

We saw the same kind of coverage in the Washington Post, which reported that
Santillan’s family had "brought her from Mexico to the United States for the
potentially lifesaving operation…" A February 23rd Post story by Rob Stein
repeatedly emphasized that she was just a "teenager," without any reference to
her nationality. Later in the story, he mentioned that the parents had
"smuggled the family" into the U.S. but never used the term "illegal."

A report on CBS News said, "She is from a small town near Guadalajara, Mexico,
and moved to North Carolina with her family several years ago, believing that
she would have a better chance for a transplant if she were in the U.S." CBS
made the whole thing sound legal, proper and humanitarian.

A North Carolina businessman raised funds to pay for her operation because
federal law prohibits government reimbursement for organ-transplant-related
services for "undocumented aliens." There is no dispute that she got
organs—two sets of organs—that could have gone to an American citizen. It
appears she got special treatment. As noted in the press, she got the second
set of organs in "amazingly fast" time, in less than two weeks, after spending
three years on a waiting list to get the first set.

It was news to many people that non-U.S. citizens can be placed on waiting
lists for transplants and get the same priority as American citizens. A
spokeswoman for the United Network for Organ Sharing was quoted by the
Associated Press as saying they cannot perform more than 5 percent of their
transplants on noncitizens. This figure has been featured in many reports. But
Transweb.org, which handles questions about organ transplants and donations,
says the figure is actually ten percent. Some people may wonder why any
non-citizens are entitled to this service.

"If ye love wealth better than liberty ... servitude better than ... freedom,
go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsel or your arms ... May your
chains set lightly upon you. May posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams