LAMBDA LEGAL ARCHIVE SITETHIS SITE IS NO LONGER MAINTAINED. TO SEE OUR MOST RECENT CASES AND NEWS, VISITNEW LAMBDALEGAL.ORG

Lambda Legal Urges Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Administrator to Reconsider Decision Denying a Liver Transplant to a Maryland Man Because He Has HIV

Find Your State

Know the laws in your state that protect LGBT people and people living with HIV.
"Denying this man a transplant because he has HIV is not based on good medicine or sound science, and it may cost him his life."
February 16, 2005

(Baltimore, Maryland, February 11, 2005) – Saying that one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies may cost a Maryland man his life by refusing to cover a liver transplant because he has HIV, Lambda Legal urged the administrator of a Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey health plan to reverse its denial in light of a range of scientific data and the man’s personal health history and experience.


“To deny our client the care he needs, Horizon is ignoring published reports on organ transplants for people with HIV and not looking at its patient’s individual health status,” said Jon Givner, HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal. “In the last nine years since the advent of better treatments for people with HIV, the medical community nationwide has learned a great deal about organ transplants. Denying this man a transplant because he has HIV is not based on good medicine or sound science, and it may cost him his life.”


Morris Murray, a 44-year-old resident of the Baltimore area has had HIV for over a decade. Murray’s HIV is very well controlled with medication, but he later developed hepatitis C which has not responded to standard treatment and led to end-stage liver disease. His last hope is for a life-saving liver transplant. Murray’s doctors at the University of Pittsburgh, one of the top transplant centers in the nation, approved Murray for placement on their transplant list in August 2004. That same month, doctors requested pre-approval for the procedure but Horizon’s plan administrator denied the request saying that “ [l]iver transplantation in HIV-positive patients remains investigational at this time.” Lambda Legal became involved in the second-round appeal to the plan administrator, formally asking Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield’s plan administrator to reverse course and allow Murray to be evaluated like any other patient who needs a life-saving transplant.


In a letter sent to the plan administrator and Blue Cross Blue Shield, Lambda Legal said that the justification of the denial is simply untrue. “It’s flat-out wrong that liver transplants for people with HIV are experimental and have unfavorable outcomes,” Givner said. “There’s a solid and growing body of scientific and medical evidence that clearly shows HIV does not significantly affect the outcome of liver transplantation.”


Lambda Legal cited many examples of this data in its appeal letter today, including a 2002 New England Journal of Medicine article on the subject that found “no evidence of poorer survival among otherwise healthy HIV-positive patients who are receiving anti-retroviral therapy,” which Givner said is precisely Murray’s situation. The article went on to say that “transplantation in HIV-positive patients should … not be considered experimental,” and it further supported reimbursement for the patients.


”I am literally in the fight for my life and I will continue to fight. I hope that one day other HIV positive individuals will not have to fight with their insurance companies for a life saving operation, but instead will be able to concentrate on getting well and living life to the fullest,” said Morris Murray.


According to Lambda Legal, people with HIV are still sometimes blocked from being considered for transplants, even though medical and scientific evidence makes it clear that they should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis like any other transplant candidates. In the last two years, Lambda Legal has successfully persuaded other insurance providers (including Kaiser Permanente, the Department of Veterans Affairs and a state Medicaid program) to evaluate patients with HIV for organ transplants based on the patients’ individual health status and sound scientific data.


Jon Givner, Director of Lambda Legal's HIV Project is handling the case.


###


Contact: Lisa Hardaway- 212-809-8585 X266


Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.

###

Contact Info

Share