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--> --> Court won't make state pay for transplants By Joseph B. Frazier Associated Press Writer PORTLAND - After two years of up-and-down decisions, the Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the state's refusal to pay for a rare lung-and-liver transplant for 19-year-old Brandy Stroeder. The issue is moot in Stroeder's case because a community effort led by millionaire hotel magnate Mark Hemstreet has already raised $300,000 toward the estimated $250,000 in medical costs. Stroeder, of McMinnville, had said she was hoping for a favorable ruling - meaning fewer problems for future patients. Contacted at her home Wednesday, Stroeder refused to discuss the decision. "I don't want to talk about it," she said. Portland attorney Barbee Lyon, who argued the case before a three-judge appeals court panel on Oct. 17, said Wednesday he could not say whether there would be an appeal until he had reviewed the decision. The appeals court said the Office of Medical Assistance Programs, which administers the Oregon Health Plan, ruled correctly and that denial of coverage did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. OMAP also contends the state plan, which pays medical expenses for Oregon's poor, cannot cover the cost because the operation is experimental. "Although claimant is a person with a disability, she was not denied the requested transplant services by reason of that disability," the court ruled. Stroeder suffers from cystic fibrosis and chronic liver illness and needs the transplants to live. She was on the verge of getting the organs at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif., last week but the transplants, which also would have included a new heart, were canceled when doctors found traces of pneumonia in one of the donor lungs. There had been only three cases of triple organ transplants in the United States through June of this year. Only one patient survived. "You can see how rare it is. It's not unusual to have two organs transplanted together, like kidney-pancreas or heart-lung," said Ann Paschke, a spokeswoman for the United Network for Organ Sharing, based in Richmond, Va. Paschke said there have been only been eight liver-lung transplants and did not know how many recipients still are alive. Doctors say Stroeder, who needs an oxygen tank, has only about two years to live without the transplants. In December 1999, Stroeder's doctors asked OMAP to authorize a referral to the Stanford hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., for an evaluation. OMAP refused, saying the lung-liver combination of organs was not covered and that "irreversible liver disease is contraindicated for lung transplant and uncorrectable failure of the lungs is contraindicated for liver transplant." A hearings officer reversed that decision in April of 2000, saying that since Stroeder was seeking simultaneous transplants, the rules of contraindication do not apply. The hearings officer also found that while OMAP covered some combinations of organ transplants, the absence of an express listing for lung-and-liver transplants was not significant. Since both lung and liver transplants were separately listed, the simultaneous transplant of those organs was not prohibited, the officer said. In April 2000, OMAP withdrew the officer's decision on grounds that the officer had incorrectly interpreted the rules governing organ transplants. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing