CRITICAL: Perth liver mum Claire Murray
is hoping a live transplant will save her life. Picture:
Sixty Minutes Source: PerthNow
CRITICAL: Perth liver mum Claire Murray
is hoping a live transplant will save her life. Picture:
Sixty Minutes Source: PerthNow
<!-- google_ad_section_start(name=story_introduction,
weight=high) --> THE Perth mother of two whose taxpayer-assisted
liver transplant has divided WA has opened up on her fears and
regrets, declaring "I don't deserve a second chance".<!--
google_ad_section_end(name=story_introduction) -->
Claire Murray, who will undergo a life or death ``live'' liver
transplant on Wednesday, said: `` I'd rather die than be an addict
and now I've put my family in the predicament where one of them can
die trying to save me for a second time.''
The recovering heroin addict, who celebrates her 25th birthday
on Sunday, has prepared herself for the worst.
``I've already accepted the death part of it,'' she said from
her Singapore hospital bed.
``I've put a lot of people through a lot of pain and just to
wake up every day, wake up knowing what I've done, how many times
I've done it, how many people I've hurt. It's just a really hard
thing.''
If her transplant fails, Ms Murray has written
emotionally-charged letters of explanation to her two children --
Chloe, 6, and Taj, 4 -- her parents, brother and sister and uncles
and aunties.
She has also sealed birthday cards for Chloe and Taj to let them
know mum is still looking over them.
It can also be revealed:
* WA Health Minister Kim Hames has signalled he would be
reluctant to chase down the $250,000 interest-free loan provided to
the Murray family to enable the life-saving operation in the event
of Ms Murray failing to survive the risky medical procedure.
* Dr Hames has admitted the State Government has begun to field
requests from severely ill West Australians and their family
members for financial help similar to that given to Ms Murray.
* Ms Murray said she has tried to talk her mother, Val, and
aunt, Carolynn, out of donating part of their liver for the
operation. The two women have endured a week of medical tests at
Singapore's Mt Elizabeth Hospital to work out which one is the best
fit to give Ms Murray part of their liver. They face a one-in-100
chance they could die on the operating table, compared with Ms
Murray's 80 per cent odds of survival.
* Ms Murray has already made plans for her funeral, saying she
wants to be buried in her new black-and-gold Adidas tracksuit
because she can't bear the thought of going to her grave in a
dress.
Dr Hames agreed he had set a precedent that could open the
floodgates for other desperate cases. ``It is possible that that's
what I've done,'' he acknowledged.
``That does expose our State Government to some risk and as a
minister I have to wear that.''
He admitted the decision may mean further payouts for State
Treasury.
``It is true,'' he said. ``I will have to consider other people
who come forward with similar cases.
``There have been some requests come through.''
Ms Murray's plight has polarised West Australians since
Nationals MP Vince Catania and Labor MP Martin Whitely brought her
case to the public's attention last month.
She received her first donor liver last year because she had
acute liver failure caused by 12 years of addiction to heroin and
amphetamines. But the donor liver failed, giving her only months to
live without another transplant.
Ms Murray admitted taking drugs after the first transplant and
was prevented from returning to the transplant waiting list by
national protocols that forbid persistent substance abusers from
being eligible for donor organs.
Dr Hames this week said the decision taken by doctors at Sir
Charles Gairdner Hospital's transplant unit was the right one.
``They discussed her case three times and then formed the view
that giving her another chance just wasn't appropriate in the view
of the ones that were still waiting, and I agreed with them,'' he
said.
In a controversial move, the State Government gave the Murray
family a $250,000 interest-free loan over two years.
Doctors in Singapore agreed to carry out a live liver transplant
and Ms Murray and her family flew out of Perth on March 5.
Dr Hames was not keen to commit the State Government to
recovering the debt from the Murray family if the operation
failed.
``Would I take them to court and seize the house to get it back?
I think I'd need to make (that) decision at the time -- obviously
it would be a very hard thing to do,'' he said.
KNN, she better make use of the second chance and stay on the
straight and narrow. Not only is she wasting taxpayer's funds in
AU, she is also depriving SGreans of one bed at MEH.