Actually, there is one for urgent care. If someone stabbed her with a knife, any hospital would need to take her regardless of whether her insurance was willing to pay. (Afterward, she would be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs or perhaps give up all possessions and declare bankruptcy, but at that point at least she's alive.)
But she'd not in need of emergency care: she has months to live, not hours. And in the US there is ABSOLUTELY NO PROTECTION for this. Really. It is unbelievable but true, and changing it is politically impossible.
Possible solution: she should get a friend to stab her with a knife, fairly close to the site of the metal object. Then the hospital is required to offer treatment and they can remove the object while they're at it. Do the stabbing inside the emergency room of the hospital to increase her chance of surviving.
You probably think I'm kidding about the stabbing. I might be... I HOPE I'm kidding.
It seems the most likely scenario is that she underestimated the legal system and the lawyers took advantage of that. If she had taken the time to hire an attorney, she probably wouldn't be in this situation.
That being said, it is hard to get money when the traditional methods (insurance) fails when there is a somewhat high chance of not surviving the surgery. The institutions capable of giving that kind of money are not doing so out of the kindness of their hearts but to make a buck and if she dies there will be no way to recoup that money.
As a side note, I think it would be interesting to make a crowd funding site dedicated to raising money to cover health costs. Bring the "burden" back to the community rather than the government. But that's just a passing thought and not meant to spark a political debate.
It is a system that takes people at their most vulnerable and squeezes them for every last dime.
If you don't have good and capable family, friends, advocates looking out for you, and if your own strength -- perhaps, likely even, also cognitive -- is compromised, you're well on your way to being screwed.
Many other societies (although certainly not all, but many other "Western" societies) have come to view healthcare as a primary means of investing in their people and in a communal, mutually beneficial future. The U.S. derived term "human resources" gives a hint at how human beings are viewed by many institutions -- and individuals -- in the U.S. There is also a malaise of short-term thinking; if you're not any good at the moment -- or rather, not approximating some ideal choice or simulating the appearance of same -- you're not worth any investment.
Notice that, more than a debate about why we should donate to save her or not, I think what's interesting here is that a Kickstarter-like website is used for totally personnal and life-threating purpose for the first time.
Or at least successfully used like this for the first time, I can't recall any other example.
I've known artist who have been using fundly to help pay cancer bills, which is life-threatening and totally personal. Here is an example, an artist who worked independently but his art is all over the place (on Magic the Gathering cards among other places), and has broken the bank trying to pay medical bills. http://fundly.com/cyrilvanderhaegen
I know he is not the only one using fundly that way.
In a world of sensationalist headlines, I'm glad that I ended up clicking this. To be honest, I truly thought that this was going to be about getting funding so that a developer could pay rent and eat while they make the next big thing. The world "literally" has been so overused that, to me, it has lost its meaning. Glad I took the time and I really hope she reaches her goal as it would be a shame to have more than enough for the surgery but not enough to meet the goal and then not get funded.
Does anybody know what happened with this? I donated to the campaign and just received an email saying that I've been refunded my donation and the page is gone.
I'm seriously confused here. I'm Canadian and this seems so bizarre to me.