Patient needing lung transplant dies after FL hospital declines transfer

A woman in need of a lung transplant died this week after her family said they tried repeatedly to have her transferred from a West Kendall medical center to Miami-Dade's taxpayer-owned Jackson Memorial Hospital, the only facility in South Florida capable of transplanting lungs and a designated safety net for uninsured county residents. The woman's family says Jackson Memorial officials denied her transfer first because they believed she was an undocumented immigrant, then because she was uninsured – and ultimately, after a week of denials because she was too critically ill to move. Jackson Memorial officials would not address the woman's case, citing patient privacy laws.