Bill Would Stop Hospitals From Requiring Insurance For Transplants - Health News Story - WMUR Manchester

Bill Would Stop Hospitals From Requiring Insurance For Transplants - Health News Story - WMUR Manchester
Bill Would Stop Hospitals From Requiring Insurance For Transplants
Couple Says Son Died When He Wasn't Placed On Transplant List

CONCORD, N.H. -- One year ago, Nick Currier, 21, died after he was unable to get a liver transplant. His parents said a Boston hospital refused to put him on the transplant list because he lacked insurance, and they're turning to state lawmakers in an attempt to prevent that from happening again.

Health officials said each hospital sets its own criteria for placing patients on the organ recipient list, and the criteria are sometimes financial. Currier's family said he was turned away from a hospital because he didn't have insurance, and they found out too late that another hospital a few miles away would have listed him.

"They said, 'Nick, you need a liver to survive' -- and you could see the tears coming through his eyes -- 'but you have no insurance,'" said his father, Roland Currier.


A new bill would prohibit hospitals from requiring insurance coverage for organ donations and transplants.

"I think it is essential that uninsured people have the ability to access the same organ donor registry lists as people who can afford to pay," said Sen. Joseph Kenney, a sponsor of the bill.

Nick Currier was working two jobs, taking college classes and planned on a career as a plumber when he became sick. No New Hampshire hospitals do liver transplants, so he was transferred to a Massachusetts facility that his parents said they were assured was the best.

"Every solitary day they pounded us on insurance," Roland Currier said. "They told us they couldn't put him on the list without insurance."

Nothing in federal law mandates how a patient should be ranked on transplant lists, and Medicare and Medicaid cover kidney transplants but not liver transplants, health officials said.

But some said the bill may provide as comprehensive a fix as it seems because the state can only oversee its own hospitals.

"This bill only applies to hospitals licensed in New Hampshire," said Gina Barkus of Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. "It doesn't follow New Hampshire patients out of state."

The law would not have helped the Curriers, but they said it's a start, and they hope other states will follow suit.

"It's been a tough year, and every day, we have to live with the loss of our son -- all because of insurance," Roland Currier said.

Supporters said they hope New Hampshire will pioneer standardized regulations across the country for organ donations regardless of insurance.

Although Dartmouth-Hitchcock doesn't perform liver transplants, it is the only hospital in the state that does other organ transplants. Officials there said the hospital adds people to waiting lists regardless of ability to pay.
Copyright 2008 by WMUR. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed