With the life of a 10-year-old Philadelphia girl in her hands, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius refused to make an exception to the nation’s lung transplant law – saying instead that it is an unfortunate situation in which “someone lives and someone dies.”
Sarah Murnaghan, who is suffering from end-stage cystic fibrosis, has been given only a few weeks to live if she does not receive a lung transplant. Unfortunately, current regulations prohibit her from receiving an adult lung transplant because she is under the age of 12. She instead has to wait for a lung donated by another child, of which there are very few available.
“Please, suspend the rules until we look at this policy,” Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) pleaded to Secretary Sebelius on behalf of the young girl during Tuesday’s House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing.
The HHS secretary replied back to Barletta by stating that the rule is based upon survivability chances and transplant doctors have held the rule in place since 2005 based on medical evidence.
“I would suggest, sir, that, again, this is an incredibly agonizing situation where someone lives and someone dies,” she replied.
Sebelius also added that 40 other people in Pennsylvania are on the “high acuity list” for lung transplants, including several others at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she is currently receiving treatment. The HHS secretary also noted that she has called for a review of the transplant policies for children under the age of 12, despite the fact that the review would take several years – which Murnaghan doesn’t have.
Her family refused to give up the fight despite Sebelius’ failure to intervene, and actually received a bit of good news Wednesday when they were granted a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction in federal court. The injunction requires Sebelius to override the application of the “Under 12” rule in Sarah’s case.
