Dad Kept Off Organ Waiting List Because He Was Homeless Gets New Apartment

by (▪‿▪)DoctorWhoGuru(▪‿▪) Posted 2011/12/26 03:24:12

Related Topics: Homeless, Medical, CBS, Dad, Apartment, Father, Born, Nyc, Bronx

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A homeless dad who was told that he couldn't get a kidney transplant because he was homeless, got the keys to a new Manhattan home Saturday, CBS reports.

Octavio Estevez, 54, suffered strokes in 2006 that kept him from working as a tailor, according toNYDailyNews.com. The Dominican-born U.S. citizen landed in a Bronx homeless shelter and was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease two years ago. He needed a kidney transplant to save his life.

But, because the father of two was living in a shelter, Mount Sinai Medical Center kept him off its kidney transplant waiting list.

"If being poor is bad, being poor and ill is a tragedy," Estevez told VoicesofNY.org.

When city leaders learned of Estevez's plight, they banded together with the housing authority to find a solution.

"We're able to come together and actually create that home that he'll able to have once he has his transplant to come back to," Yvonne Stennett, who runs the Community League of the Heights, told CBS.

Estevez got the keys to a Washington Heights apartment on Saturday.

"I know that in this city where there is so much bad, people are also trying to good,"Estevez told CBS.

Beautiful_Syn 2011/12/26 03:31:29

+3
This is very sad, no matter if a person is homeless or not they shouldn't be denied medical care that they need to save their lives.
He is the father of two and that should over shadow the fact that he was homeless, thank you for sharing this story and I hope that it ends well for him.
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Fannie 2011/12/26 16:08:31 (edited)

+1
I hope he is matched up, and receives his transplant, so that he can continue on fathering his children.

As a kidney patient he should be on medicare and receive benefits from them for his health care...........that is why we pay into such programs.

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Angi 2011/12/26 15:30:50

+1
You should not be denied health care because you are homeless. Good luck to this man and his family.

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MrSexyPants 2011/12/26 07:13:46

+1
omg i am so happy 4 him. that's great. i hope everything works out 4 him... :)

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Otaku Link 2011/12/26 04:15:49

+2
Awesome... Though I can see not wantin to give an organ to a homeless man. Especially since organ recipients often need speciaiized drug regimens to keep their body from rejecting the new organ.

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teena jones 2011/12/26 03:59:46

+1
I hope that no more hospitals do that because someone is homeless if anything, they should be trying to help the less fortunate instead of putting them in a worse situation, especially if they have a family.

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Fannie to teena j... 2011/12/26 16:10:35 (edited)

+1
That hopsital needs to be occupied by protestors.................they are wrong, and they should be charged for being in the wrong. They should have to pay thousands and thousands for their mistake. Otherwise it will happen again.

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teena j... to Fannie 2011/12/26 22:03:18

+1
They have no right to do that to anybody no matter what the circumstances,he is still a person, a special person to his kids and if he died they wouldn't know what to do, all because of the hospital.I mean, some hospitals are supposed to be helping people these days, not hurting them even more than they already are.

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Fannie to teena j... 2011/12/26 22:58:51 (edited)

+2
Couldn't have said it better teena.........they use to be there to help save a life, or prolong it, and help aleviate suffering..........anymore it's all about money, salaries, benefits, and nothing more.

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teena j... to Fannie 2011/12/27 02:06:32

+2
Thank you. And that is so true some of these hospitals are taking advantage of other people for all the above, that's good for them.If these people die they're just patients that have funerals that they don't have to pay for, they're just easy money.

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ὤTṻnde΄ӂ 2011/12/26 03:31:56

+2
Great story. This is the kind of a story that keeps me an optimist.

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Beautiful_Syn 2011/12/26 03:31:29

+3
This is very sad, no matter if a person is homeless or not they shouldn't be denied medical care that they need to save their lives.
He is the father of two and that should over shadow the fact that he was homeless, thank you for sharing this story and I hope that it ends well for him.

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Lee The Hybrid Snowflake 2011/12/26 03:26:05

+1
Thanks for sharing such a nice story, I hope it ends well.

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