San Jose Mercury News| Hannah Dreier - Contra Costa Times
Although the Oakland man has a willing donor and private insurance to pay for the transplant, he faces an additional hurdle in the race to save his life: He is an illegal immigrant.
That fact prompted administrators at UC San Francisco Medical Center to refuse to transplant a kidney from Navarro's wife because they cannot be sure he will receive adequate follow-up care.
Their decision taps into the tension between health care and immigration policies in the state and the role medical professionals should play in trying to save the lives of undocumented residents.
Though no data are available, anecdotal evidence suggests clinics sometimes perform the transplants on illegal immigrants, especially when the patients are young. In one high-profile case, UCLA Medical Center gave an undocumened woman three liver transplants before she turned 21.
Administrators also reject patients because of their immigration status, though these patients tend to lack insurance. Bellevue Hospital in New York attracted attention last year when it refused to transplant a kidney between brothers because they could not pay for the operation.
Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19854392
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