| Author | Subject: Brother |
| Sandi | Posted At 02:38:23 11/05/2002 My brother has diabetes (juvenile onset) and has been undergoing dialysis for a approx 4 years. He is on a list for transplant at Strong Memorial in Rochester, NY. He was notified that all transplants were on hold for 4 mths due to a transplant surgeon leaving to go to another hospital. I know he is getting overwhelmed with everything and feels there is no where to turn. Neither myslef nor my other brother can donate due to health concerns. My brother tells me that he has to stay in New York State and go to a hospital 'of excellence' or his insurance won't pay...there has to be some help out there....PLEASE |
| Betj Witten | Re: Brother (Currently 0 replies) Posted At 17:34:17 11/05/2002 I don't know how long your brother has been waiting and I know it's hard to wait for a transplant when someone is on dialysis. Does you brother have Medicare? If so, Medicare should be the primary payer for dialysis and for kidney transplantation since he's been on dialysis as long as he has. Although some insurances limit where people can go for transplantation, people with standard Medicare are not limited as to where they can go to receive a transplant as long as the transplant facility is Medicare approved. He should look at his insurance policy and/or talk with someone in the insurance company about alternative sites where he could go for transplant. Your brother may not realize that Medicare will pay for kidney or a kidney-pancreas transplant. He probably should ask his insurance company whether it will pay for kidney-pancreas transplant too. There is helpful information about facilities offer kidney or kidney-pancreas transplants in New York on the United Network for Organ Sharing web site (www.unos.org) under Transplant DataSource. Encourage your brother to talk with his doctor about kidney-pancreas transplantation. One thing that's helpful to know is that sometimes being listed for multiple organs speeds up the waiting time. |