Hours after learning that an undocumented women who has lived in Portland for 30 years had been denied a liver transplant because of her immigration status, Oregon Health & Science University officials terminated the policy that caused the denial and apologized for the incident.
Silvia Lesama-Santos, 46, a stay-at-home mother of four children ranging in age from 4 to 21, received a letter from OHSU on Tuesday. Though Lesama-Santos is insured through her husband, the letter stated that she "must have lawful presence."
On Tuesday evening, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon sent out a press release about Lesama-Santos' situation.
"My mother's only chance at survival is to receive a liver transplant, but OHSU has denied her because she is undocumented," Ivan Gonzalez Lesama, her son, said in the release. "They won't even let her get on the waiting list while we look for another hospital who will help her."
Mat dos Santos, legal director at the ACLU of Oregon called OHSU's policy of denying care based on immigration status "cruel and inhumane."
Later that same evening, however, OHSU put out their own statement.
"It was brought to our attention this evening that an archaic transplant policy was preventing an undocumented individual from being evaluated at OHSU," it read. "Upon learning of the policy, OHSU leaders acted immediately and terminated the policy. We deeply regret the pain this has caused the family.
"The OHSU transplant team is informing the family of our change in policy tonight," the statement continued. "OHSU's legal team has begun a system-wide audit to ensure no other such policies exist."
Lesama-Santos and her family have been informed of the change in policy, ACLU spokesperson Sarah Armstrong confirmed Wednesday morning. "They also learned they were accepted to a hospital in Seattle," she added.
Even with the good news about the transplant possibility, the family still faces uncertainty. It's unclear at this point, Armstrong said, whether Lesama-Santos is healthy enough to travel to Seattle, or even healthy enough to get the transplant at OHSU.
-- Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052
lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker
from Health - Google News http://ift.tt/2GYdgQe
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