Indigent Who Needs Transplant Gets Worse; Taken to UCLA Center

Hector Bojado, the indigent who is fighting an uphill battle to receive expensive heart transplant surgery, was admitted to the UCLA Medical Center Tuesday after his condition deteriorated.

Bojado, 29, checked into the UCI Medical Center in Orange Monday afternoon complaining of severe shortness of breath and other symptoms associated with cardiomyopathy, the disease that has left him with little chance of surviving unless he receives another heart.

UCI spokeswoman Elaine Beno said Bojado, 29, was originally scheduled for a medical evaluation at the Los Angeles facility today, but doctors decided to move up the appointment because of “his serious condition.”

UCI doctors have said UCLA Medical Center holds one of the last rays of hope for Bojado’s survival. Two weeks ago, Dr. Richard Ott, UCI’s director of heart transplants, decided to move the Anaheim plastics molder to the UCLA center. The move would qualify Bojado for Medi-Cal insurance because the UCLA center is a facility approved by Medi-Cal, UCI officials said.

UCI Medical Center is not approved by Medi-Cal for heart transplants because it has performed just seven of the surgeries. For Medi-Cal to pay for such an operation, officials said, it must take place at a hospital where at least 12 previous transplants have been performed, with a 70% success rate.

Ott had first planned to perform the transplant at UCI, but medical center officials decided that they could not absorb the operation’s cost, which could range from $70,000 to $150,000.

The UCI center’s auxiliary--the center’s fund-raising arm--then started a desperate campaign to raise enough money so Bojado could be considered for an operation.

Beno said Tuesday that the auxiliary has received $50,000 in pledges for Bojado and Stephen Regalado, who was also a cardiomyopathy patient.

Regalado, 23, of Mission Viejo, died before his name could placed on a transplant waiting list.

Beno said the donations may be used to provide follow-up care for Bojado.