Family: Las Vegas mom denied double lung transplant after giving birth
"We are just kind of figuring out right now how we get Medicaid to approve my sister to get this lung transplant just so she can hold her baby
By KIM PASSOTH
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LAS VEGAS (KVVU) — A local mother has been denied a double lung transplant after a life-changing battle with COVID-19, according to her family.
Gabriela Acuna, better known by her family as Gaby, was pregnant when she tested positive for the virus and has never held her baby.
Acuna couldn’t be on a ventilator while pregnant, but her condition got to the point where doctors had no choice. They had to do an emergency C-section so she could be put on a vent.
Her lungs now no longer function. Everything was all set for a lung transplant at USC. A helicopter was in Las Vegas ready fly her to Southern California.
Her family said at the last moment, Medicaid denied the $2.5 million transplant procedure. They’ve been told the treatment must go through insurance, and they cannot pay by cash even if they could.
“We are just kind of figuring out right now how we get Medicaid to approve my sister to get this lung transplant just so she can hold her baby,” Paula Olmeda, Acuna’s sister told FOX5.
Acuna’s baby is still in the NICU but is progressing.
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