Tag Archives: sebelius

Girl dying of cystic fibrosis receives lung transplant

Sarah Murnaghan, the 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl dying of cystic fibrosis, is receiving her long-awaited lung transplant. According to a Facebook post from Sarah’s mother, Janet, the family received word this morning of new lungs that had been made available, and Sarah is currently in surgery.  The operation will take many hours. A spokeswoman from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where Sarah has been hospitalized, said they do not have any information to release. In the Facebook post, Janet said the family is overwhelmed with emotions, and she thanked everyone for their unending support.  She also asked her followers to pray for Sarah's donor. “Please pray for Sarah's donor, her HERO, who has given her the gift of life,” Janet Murnaghan wrote. “Today their family has experienced a tremendous loss, may God grant them a peace that surpasses understanding.” United States Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) released the following statement after being informed by the family of Sarah’s good news: “I am deeply grateful to the organ donor and his or her family for the potentially life-saving gift to Sarah. Now that a suitable donor has been found, a prayer would help, too - a prayer Sarah's body accepts the new organ the way doctors believe it can. The judge gave Sarah a chance to receive a new lung.  Now the surgical team at CHOP is giving her a chance at life.”   Sarah has been in desperate need of a lung transplant for the past 18 months.  She has been hospitalized at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for the past three months, where she has been on a ventilator. Under the current guidelines for organ donation, children under the age of 12 must wait for pediatric lungs to become available.  Adult lungs cannot be offered to children under 12, until they are offered to adults and adolescents first.   The Murnaghans have been in the midst of a legal battle over the established rules for organ donation after they filed a lawsuit last week to have the guidelines changed, arguing the rule keeping Sarah off the list was “discriminatory.” A federal court judge granted a temporary order on June 5 that allowed Sarah to join an adult organ transplant list. It is not yet clear whether Sarah’s donor is an adult or a child. Judge Michael Baylson made his ruling after hearing oral arguments on the case and had scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for June 14. Baylson's order told Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to direct the group that manages the organ transplant list to cease application of it in Sarah's case. Secretary Sebelius declined to intervene in the case early last week, despite urgent pleas from several members of Congress from Pennsylvania. Sebelius said that such decisions should be made by medical experts and noted that there were three other children at Children's Hospital alone in the same condition. Over the weekend, Sarah's condition worsened, and she was intubated on Saturday after she experienced additional trouble breathing. The Associated Press contributed to this report.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/12/girl-dying-cystic-fibrosis-to-receive-lung-transplant-today/

Secretary Sebelius, stop hiding behind bureaucratic rules and save a child’s life

Many are calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to allow Sarah Murnaghan, a 10-year-old girl dying of cystic fibrosis, to be allowed on the adult organ transplant list.  According to current federal policy, the minimum age for her to be included on the list is 12. Currently, Sarah cannot receive an adult lung transplant until the available organs are offered to adult patients first. Of course, Secretary Sebelius could always make an exception by allowing this girl to be put on the transplant list.  Exceptions to federal regulations are made every day by the Department of Health and Human Services, whether you’re talking about the use of non-FDA approved drugs to treat cancer or the use of new technical equipment for surgical therapies. In this specific case, however, we’re talking about saving a child whose only hope is to compete among other patients for a transplant.  It is a perfect example of how rules are sometimes meant to be changed – or broken completely – especially when you’re talking about saving a person’s life. Secretary Sebelius has only ordered a revision of the policy, which could take a lengthy amount of time – something Sarah does not have.  To me, this shows lack of leadership and, certainly, lack of compassion.  Doctors and nurses make instant decisions when it comes to helping others in need, and I believe that someone who is in charge of the largest health care agency on the planet should have a more proactive approach when dealing with these kinds of emergency situations. The field of medicine has changed dramatically when it comes to the surgical techniques that transplant surgeons use.  From minimally invasive therapy to partial organ transplants, new technical miracles continue to develop. Therefore, the argument that an adult organ may not be usable in a 10-year-old is no longer valid, and certainly open for discussion in our clinical community.  As reports have told us, Sarah’s surgeons do agree that in her case, an adult transplant just might work. The rule not allowing a child to be eligible for a transplant from an adult organ until the age of 12 is archaic, and it should not have taken a case like this for Secretary Sebelius – whose tenure has lasted for the past four years – to ask for a revision today. I agree with many who have said that this child is a victim of age discrimination.  But I also agree that Sarah has been ignored by our federal health leaders and has been placed in a bureaucratic Neverland.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/04/secretary-sebelius-stop-hiding-behind-bureaucratic-rules-and-save-childs-life/

Is there a hidden scandal lurking in ObamaCare?

America, we are in trouble – and we better wake up and act.   Just look at the state of affairs in our country today.  We are seeing scandal after scandal, with the Benghazi controversy, the IRS targeting of conservative groups, and the freedom of the press being challenged by the Department of Justice. The word scandal is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage.”  I think the implementation of ObamaCare fulfills that definition. I remember back in 2010 when then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made her infamous remark about the Affordable Care Act, saying “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it....” Well the bill has been passed, and now we see what’s in it: An utter mess with incomprehensible rules. If we compare the assertions the president made about ObamaCare when it was first introduced to the current bill as it has been passed today, we find that all the president’s guarantees regarding ObamaCare are not there.   The truth of the matter is that we were not fully informed.  For example, President Obama maintained that this bill would lower the cost of health care, especially in regards to insurance premiums.  That is simply not true.  Many different analyses clearly show that in some markets, insurance premiums can increase as high as 30 to 40 percent. One of the main reasons for this increase can be attributed to all the hidden taxes that this bill contains, which the insurance industry will likely pass on to consumers.   Another false guarantee given by the administration was that individuals would be able to keep their doctors and current level of service through ObamaCare.  Again, this is not true. The so-called insurance exchanges being set up in many states by the federal government will most likely create a non-competitive environment, meaning patients who cannot afford other types of insurance will be forced to buy insurance from the government.  And if their current doctors are not willing to participate in that single-payer health care system, these patients will ultimately lose the guarantee of keeping their own doctors. So what does this all mean? It means that if everything goes according to the president’s plan, the health care landscape is going to completely change over the next decade. A potential scenario is that private doctors will be employees of one large health care system. Health standards such as maintaining an ideal weight and eliminating habits like drinking alcohol and soda will be placed on families so that they can qualify for health care.  So in other words, your individual freedom will be targeted. I know many people argue that it’s better if everyone has health insurance and maintains a healthy lifestyle.  Yes it is, but I still believe that an individual’s health care should not be dictated by the government. Instead it should be a choice made by the individual and his or her health provider. Many senior politicians and consultants have found as of late that ObamaCare is a train wreck.  And yet, the person in charge of implementing ObamaCare, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, continues to drive the train forward.  Rather than work with leaders who are suggesting changes ,she has decided to enlist the help of the private sector in getting donations to help fund ObamaCare.   Many have questioned this move, but one thing Secretary Sebelius knows is how to organize her community of followers.  Recently, she has teamed up with Nancy-Ann DeParle, former director of the White House Office of Health Reform, placing her in charge of asking insurance companies to donate $1 million or more to Enroll America, a non-profit organization promoting enrollment in the subsidized insurance markets, according to a report from Politico. You see, folks, ObamaCare is all about politics and control, and to me, that is a formula for disaster.  This is something that should not be taken for granted but rather openly evaluated by the American public.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/is-there-hidden-scandal-lurking-in-obamacare/