Foster child denied shot at new liver (Fl. where else!)

[ensho]

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/596995.html


A Central Florida foster child needs a life-saving liver, but doctors have taken him off a transplant list because they fear he cannot recover from surgery without a stable home.


A disabled foster child whose liver is failing has been removed from a Central Florida hospital's organ-transplant waiting list because hospital administrators fear the state's shaky child-welfare system cannot ensure he has a permanent home in which to recover.

Shands Hospital in Gainesville removed the boy, 15, from a waiting list for organ recipients after administrators determined the boy's unstable living conditions make him a poor candidate for a transplant, said Nick Cox, the Department of Children & Families regional administrator in the Tampa Bay area, where the boy lives.

The state's next move: appeal to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, which DCF officials hope will put the teen on its transplant wait list.
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america so loves its children

[Solly Mack]

1. Damn

[SacredCow]

2. How's THAT for a slap in the face?

"sorry, kid- nobody wants you, so we're not going to bother trying to save your life." :mad:

[devilgrrl]

3. There's a few threads concerning the "American Dream"

Several posters poo poo pessimism because there have been worse economic conditions in our past and persons mired in poverty manage to persevere blaa blaa blaa...

If this story isn't an example of what would cause such pessimism toward the myth of the American Dream, I don't know what is.

[bronxiteforever]

4. Isn't this the Schiavo state? Why aren't the same people complaining about this poor child?

Why isn't the State GOP and the Gov holding press conferences about this child now?

[Horse with no Name]

7. Schiavo was about abortion rights

The FARRRRR RIGHT evangelicals were attempting to use her case as existing law to stop abortions.
With that being said...the Schiavo's had money. Nary a word would have been spoken if the state was picking up the tab on her.

Also, that crazy SOB Gov. Bush is gone. Florida actually has a reasonable republican Governor now...Governor Crist.
He has done some good things.

[bronxiteforever]

11. Respectfully your post is non responsive to my point and the Government did pay for her care

"Medicaid's share of Schiavo's care "is a big chunk," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who until this year was involved in the case as a state senator. "Governor Bush and President Bush are both professing deep concern for the rights of one disabled person, yet their rhetoric doesn't match their actions," she said.

Patient care at the Florida hospice where Schiavo lives averages about $80,000 a year, but the hospice now pays for much of her care. For two years, Medicaid has covered other medical costs, including prescription drugs, the attorneys have said in published reports."

By Jonathan Weisman and Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 23, 2005; Page A13

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58069-2005Mar22.html

[Horse with no Name]

13. My apologies

I remember at the time it was reported that Michael Schiavo paid out the majority of money for her care.

[bronxiteforever]

19. Not a problem but agree with several of your points BTW

:hi:

[Horse with no Name]

5. Taking care of a transplant recipient is a TON of work

Especially a teenage kid. Typically...because they are teenagers and it is what teenagers do...they act out, refuse to take their medicine, drink alcohol, etc. All of which do not produce optimal results for a good outcome.
However, I have known fellow nurses to foster catastrophically ill kids. The state should really pursue this as an avenue.
However, I think it has more to with the $$$$$ than it does with the placement...they are just using it as an excuse.
Poor kid.:(

[pitohui]

6. maybe the only way to get someone to step up and help this kid

i don't doubt that a stable home is a necessity for the kid to be able to use the liver

as another poster said, of all those people who marched to keep the schiavo corpse on a machine, won't one of them step up and provide a safe haven for this child who is still alive?

[DrDan]

8. these are tough decisions

they are life-and-death situations.

If his homelife is such that the long-term prognosis is bleak - then a tough decision needs to be made. Another life is also at stake. - that of a different recipient.

I would hate to have to make the decision, but i would refrain from any criticism until I knew the whole story.

To simply blame it on "Florida" is so juvenile and immature. Shands is a very-well respected hospital.

[Horse with no Name]

9. Absolutely correct.

It would be difficult, at best, to find a foster family that was willing to stay in a Ronald McDonald House for 6 weeks caring for this child under supervision so that they could be deemed competent to do the medications.
Liver transplant medications are SERIOUS business. There HAS to be someone that is motivated to do it correctly as well as be able to handle all of the teenage behavior issues compiled on top of transplant issues.
There are many lives in the balance here. Tough break this particular got in life. Very very sad.:(

[Contrary1]

10. I would be happy to have the boy...

Send him to my husband and me. We have been married 35 years, raised and college educated 2 children, own our own home, and have a decent enough income. I would call that stable. This kid deserves a chance.

Besides, we miss all the commotion having a teenager in the house brings.

[Horse with no Name]

14. Contact the agency. Today.

What a wonderfully generous offer.

[Contrary1]

16. They are getting a lot of phone calls...

I think that is a good sign. :) Left a message with someone.

[pansypoo53219]

12. foster kids are no longer

fetuses. or, well, is he the right color?

[11 Bravo]

15. There's your typical "pro-life" mindset. Once the little fuckers are born, to Hell with them!

[Mad_Dem_X]

17. Exactly

That is why there will be no protests, etc. for this poor kid. Once you're out of the womb, as far as the fundies are concerned, you're on your own.

[sudopod]

18. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE nt