Boston AIDS activist dies

liver411

Posted on Wed, Mar. 13, 2002   



Boston AIDS activist dies

NANCY RABINOWITZ

Associated Press Writer



BOSTON - An HIV-infected woman who campaigned to persuade insurers to cover transplant operations for people with HIV has died after her second unsuccessful operation to get a new liver.



Belynda Dunn, a 51-year-old AIDS activist, died Tuesday at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.



Dunn had raised the money for a new liver for herself after her health plan declined to pay for the procedure. Her case stirred debate over the wisdom of giving a new organ to someone with HIV - a procedure that has become more common with recent medical advances against the AIDS virus.



Dunn underwent a transplant procedure March 5, but the liver did not function and was removed, hospital spokeswoman Lisa Rossi said. She received another transplant Friday.



While the second liver apparently functioned, an obstruction formed in her lung and she died of multiple organ failure. Her doctors said the obstruction could have been a complication of the surgery.



Dunn never regained consciousness from either transplant, Rossi said.



Dunn suffered from liver damage caused by Hepatitis C. Her health maintenance organization, Neighborhood Health Plan, refused to cover a transplant operation, on grounds that the procedure is experimental for those who have the AIDS virus.



Boston Mayor Tom Menino stepped forward to lead the campaign to raise money for Dunn's procedure. The effort netted about $275,000, including $100,000 from Neighborhood Health Plan.



"I am very saddened to hear of the passing of Belynda," the mayor said. "She fought a valiant battle not only for her own life but for countless others with HIV and Hepatitis C."



Neighborhood Health Plan had no immediate comment.



Dunn said she contracted Hepatitis C 30 years ago when she received a blood transfusion while giving birth. She said she contracted HIV through sex in 1991.



She founded the Who Touched Me Ministry, an AIDS Action group that provides HIV education and prevention through black churches in Boston.



As recently as five years ago, doctors and insurers routinely rejected AIDS patients for transplants, in part because of their lower life expectancies. And since transplant recipients must take drugs to suppress the immune system and prevent it from rejecting the new organ, doctors assumed the medication would worsen problems related to AIDS.



But in the past few years, as new drugs have saved the lives of HIV patients, doctors have begun to perform more transplants. In 1999, five transplants were reported to the United Network for Organ Sharing. In 2000, there were 11.



However, some doctors and insurance companies still do not support transplants for HIV patients.

liver411

Deeply sorry, our hearts go with her.