NIN Fan Eric De La Cruz Dies at 27

So what happens to the $850,000?

Only as a Nevadan, do you get the double edge sword of this story. Not only do we have to suffer the loss of our loved ones here when it is truly there time to go, but so many of us that deal with the loss of our loved one have to go through the grueling process of the day to day fight with healthcare bureaucracy, watch our loved one die a little each day while they suffer at the hands of substandard healthcare. The healthcare here in Nevada is worst than most third world countries. I am a healthcare worker who came from Michigan and coming here was like entering the Twilight Zone. Now after losing my mother last October, my poor father is still left behind after 53 years of marriage only to continue to suffer at the hands of this horrendous Nevada healthcare system to struggle with the aftermath of a massive stroke and a massive heart attack that should never have happened if only the private insurance physicians had performed the standard tests for all the textbook signs one month before his stroke when he complained to them. Instead they bounce patients around like chess pieces from one substandard facility to another. Nevadans, please do your healthcare homework BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE and not after. Because guess what??? IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU, TOO!!!! God Bless Eric, his family and all of you.

well if I seprate myself from my hubby income I have nothing so where that will leave me but our family has let us live here with no rent b/c b/f I got sick we were starting to help with some of the things that come with where we live like regine fees and helping with any assiment that came with the place if the townhome group needed repaires to neighborhood things.but my case worker has been up to date with all the rejections I have had in the past and we r makeing sure that what I didn't have the first 4 times we have in this go round so thanks 4 the wish of luck we(my family and me) r hopeing this will be the final time

I see the anti-public health care nuts are out again. Listen, hearts available for transplant are few compared to the need. NO ONE would have performed surgery on this unfortunate young man unless he'd gotten healthy enough to survive it, even with private funds and a directed donation (where a donor heart skips all the people on the national registry and goes straight to a designated recipient). Sadly, some conditions go downhill very fast and never do recover to the point where surgery wouldn't kill the patient. Bottom line - no reputable hospital or doctor would risk a donor heart on someone who was likely to die when someone it could save would have to go without. My condolences to the De la Cruz family.

Trent Resnor is wonderful to help in the way he did. He has a heart and cares about people. In the world that I would make, there would be a million Trent Resnors.

I wonder why they declined his heart transplant? Maybe before being SO judgmental, you should figure that out. Not all medical decisions are political or financial (although I don't disagree that the healthcare system is screwed up!)

If he was the child of a politician, do you think he would have been forced to wait so long? I think not. Politicians get full health care for the rest of their lives. The best money can buy, 100% paid for. But we have to jump through all the hoops and hope some idiot sitting behind a desk at an insurance company thinks we're worthy.
Trent, you're a good man for trying.
To the family, I'm sorry for your loss.

Everyone on here keeps talking about the big bad government, How about the private insurance company who turned him down? Was that OK? Is it OK for them to turn him down for PURE GREED, as you are complaining about the government doing? C'mon think. If his private insurance had come through he never would have had to go the the gov't to begin with. As a consequence this poor soul is gone...

It is very tragic that this man died when we have the technology and science that may have helped him. However, those of you who are denouncing the "government" for failing him should be reminded that we collectively, as a society, have REJECTED universal healthcare. Medicaid failed this gentleman because we have failed to support and fund programs such as Medicaid that could have helped him.
You can not have it both ways. You can not bash Medicaid and at the same time denounce Obama for trying to implement a government run healthcare plan. Who on earth do you think is going to pay for the costs of care like this transplant?
I do not understand the concern against a government run healthcare plan. You all do realize that the largest payer of healthcare in this country is MEDICARE!! Frankly, if Medicare is good enough for my parents then its good enough for me and everyone else.
With Medicare, people still have choices of doctors and hospitals yet it’s a government run program. If I didn't have to pay out of pocket I wouldn't mind having to be directed to a less expensive provider and one whose quality is monitored.
I have been a nurse working in acute care hospitals for 27 years. The high cost of healthcare is mainly due to the fact that we have not control our outrageous need for instantaneous relief, unrealistic expectations like (heaven forbid) having to wait for a non-urgent test/procedure, and physicians over utilization of resources because they are concerned about getting sued!
If we expect that everyone who needs care gets it, then WE ALL are going to have to pay for it. And we can do it at the same cost we have now if we stop abusing the system. Stop running to the emergency room because you think you need an antibiotic. Stop this unrealistic expectation that doctors don't make mistakes... they do and always will. Stop blaming everyone else and take some responsibility for your own preventative care, and always remember WE ARE the government... it's our money and it's our vote that determines all of this.

CAN YOU READ!!!! MEDICAID DID NOT KILL HIM! THE PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES DENIED HIM!!! THEY KILLED HIM!!! MEDICAID WAS ATTEMPTING TO HELP BUT THEY CHOSE TO TRY AND RAISE THE MONEY THEMSELVES!!!! THE PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANY WAS THE FIRST RESPONSIBLE PARTY THEY DENIED HIM THEY KILLED HIM!!!! DONT TRY AND CHANGE THE FACTS!!!!!