NoBlood

Some six years ago I posted a message on the old NoBlood.com bulletin board asking for help with a case involving a then 12-year-old spina bifida girl with a severe scoliosis that required a total re-build with rods, etc. Because of her religious objection to blood transfusion no surgeon in New Zealand would agree to do the operation, which would have been an anterior-posterior procedure necessitating some 15 hours on the operating table and involving considerable blood loss.

My message received several replies and one led to the family being put in touch with a bloodless center in New York that had a spinal team that was prepared to accept this girl as a patient. It was explained that because the girl’s condition had existed from birth she was not covered by medical insurance. The family is of very modest means. The hospital had access to a fund for special needs cases from overseas that would have covered part of the costs, and application was also made to the New Zealand Government to fund the shortfall. After much correspondence back and forth—and delays of several years—this application was finally denied. An effort to raise funds was started in New Zealand, but in the meantime the New York hospital closed its blood conservation program. We are back to square one.

The young lady is now 19. The curvature of her spine has increased to the extent that her ribs are now sitting on top of her hips. There is a real possibility that as her torso shortens further she will suffocate through not being able to expand her lungs.

Is there a hospital in the US with a spinal team who are part of a blood conservation program and who have access to a fund like the one mentioned above who would consider taking on this young woman’s case?