broke, it s broke. you know, i can excuse me, i can kick and scream all i want, if there s no money for a transplant, then it s not going to happen. one state senator is blaming jan brewer for the cuts. dave shapiro said brewer could have taken the money from other parts of the budget that don t involve life and death issue. he plans to issue a bill to restore funding. it s a minuscule part of our state s budget. i ve offered the governor 10, if not 20 options of things we can cut. i ve offered up things we can cutten with the state s program. people s lives are literally at stake and we have to put all this politics aside. there are 90 people on the transplant list who are told they would receive transplants paid for by the state medical program. many were added to the list. had surgery scheduled and sent
i m vinita nair. i m mike marusarz sitting in for rob nelson. time is running out for patients waiting for transplants in arizona. they ve been denied life-saving coverage due to budget cuts. state lawmakers are fighting to restore funding, but as mike von fremd reports for at least two patients it s too late. reporter: every day, 27-year-old tiffany tate goes through a laborious process of inhaling antibiotics and other life-saving drugs. she was born with cystic fibrosis but managed to win high school basketball championships and was a high school coach until the illness progressed. she was approved by the state for a double lung transplant and was ready for the operation, until arizona in a $5 million budget cut took away funding for her and nearly 100 other eligible patients. already two of the patients denied care have died. i want them to know, i am a human being. and i deserve to live with this disease. and i deserve like the other 97