 |
|
|
FOX 66 News at Ten
Family claims insurance keeping woman from receiving potential life-saving surgery
A local woman fights to survive, and struggles to get the medical help she needs.
She is in this situation because she's caught in what some would call a numbers game.
Kris Garza is hospitalized at Mclaren Hospital in Flint.
A genetic heart condition has caught up with her, and she needs a new heart.
Along with her heart failing, her liver has also given out.
But her family claims her government-funded insurance is failing to help her, and instead is just letting her die.
"It shouldn't be about insurance or not. Everybody should be treated the same," said Brittani McDowell.
McDowell and her brother Mark McDowell say they're being forced to watch their mother travel down the slow path to her death. Kris Garza, 39, needs a miracle.
"We need something done," said James McNamara, who has dated Garza for many years.
It's a miracle, McNamara said, for which he's been praying for a long time. You see, Garza's genetic heart condition kicked in back in October. She was rushed to the hospital with congestive heart failure.
Surgeons installed a pacemaker and a defibrillator. She was released once she was strong enough. But she spent the next two months in and out of the hospital.
On Dec. 22, she was admitted into McLaren, and it was discovered both her liver and heart are failing. She's been there since, hooked up to a ventilator, with what the family says complete brain function, all while holding on to life.
James McNamara, the father of Garza's children, says insurance will not pay for her to be transported to other hospitals that say they will accept her. "We're at a point where it's basically a money situation, and that's what it boils down to, so you know, it's just a sad situation."
The insurance also told her they will not pay for the heart and liver transplant that could help save her life.
You can get in touch with McNamara by calling (810) 293-6854 or Mark, Garza's son, at (810) 280-5070.
WNEM will continue to follow this story and provide updates as they become available.
Copyright 2013 WNEM (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
Friday, January 18 2013, 09:02 AM EST
National News Headlines
| Somali reaction to al-Shabab sentences mixed |
| The Somali community in Minnesota is reacting with a mix of outrage, confusion and relief to sentences handed down last week in the long-running investigations into recruiting and financing for the terrorist group al-Shabab. |
| Wrecked commuter trains removed from crash site in Connecticut |
Commuter trains damaged in a crash in Connecticut were being removed Sunday in the first step to making repairs and restoring service, the agency that runs Metro-North said. |
| Charlotte remembers 1963 desegregation 'eat-in' |
| In the spring of 1963, a prominent civil rights leader led dozens of protesters on a march from a predominantly African-American college campus to the center of Charlotte's downtown. |
| 3 Chicago teens accused of raping girl, posting attack on Facebook |
Three Chicago teenagers are accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and posting the attack on Facebook. |
| Autistic boy, 8, disappears while vacationing in Florida |
Authorities are searching by land and sea for an 8-year-old Autistic boy who went missing while vacationing in the Florida Panhandle. |
| Military wife's surprise weight loss leaves Army husband a big winner |
Deployed for a year in Afghanistan, Army Spc. Larry Shaffer returned to North Carolina this week to discover his wife, Misty, had dropped more than 100 pounds in that 12-month period as a homecoming gift to her husband. |
| Minneapolis police reopen 1996 cold case after receiving new tip |
Minneapolis police have reopened a 17-year-old case of a woman found stabbed to death in the trunk of her car. |
| Driver who crashed into Virginia parade likely had medical condition, officials say |
Authorities believe the driver who plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a Virginia mountain town parade suffered from a medical condition and did not cause the crash intentionally, an emergency official said Sunday. |
| Hofstra student was killed by police, authorities say |
A New York college student being held by an armed home intruder was shot and killed by a Nassau County police officer who had responded to a report of a home invasion at an off-campus home, police said Saturday. |
| Alaska volcano shoots lava up hundreds of feet |
| Alaska's remote Pavlof Volcano has been shooting lava hundreds of feet into the air, but its ash plume is thinning and is no longer making it dangerous for airplanes to fly nearby. |
News at Ten Stories
 |
|
|
News Videos
IE6 Float Fix
