I Can't Intervene in Transplant Case: Sebelius

The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services says she can't intervene in transplant decisions and move a dying Pennsylvania girl to the front of the line.

Kathleen Sebelius says those decisions should be made by medical experts. But she has called for a review of transplant policies so more organs become available to children.

Sebelius says she "can't imagine anything more difficult" than the situation facing Sarah Murnaghan's family.

The 10-year-old Newtown Square, Pa. girl has been hospitalized at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for three months with end-stage cystic fibrosis. Her family wants an exception made for Sarah to get an adult lung, because so few pediatric lungs become available.

Sebelius, speaking Tuesday before a congressional committee, says there are three other children at the same hospital who are just as sick.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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