Alisha Afzal

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect as of yet. Despite this, the financial costs placed on already stressed families are not small. Both financial and emotional burdens become overbearing points of worry, making the sur- vival of a loved one dependent on their family’s income and mental capacity instead of receiving proper care and medication.

What is CHD?

CHD is a heart defect that results from a problem with the structure of the heart; people are born with it, although it isn’t something that is inherited directly from either parent. There is, at the moment, no cure for CHD. It is often divided into two types: cyanotic, with which skin appears to be blue due to lack of oxygen, and non-cyanotic which does not make the skin look blue. The average lifespan for a person with CHD is 75+/-11 years, only 4 years less than an average non-affected person’s lifespan; never- theless, there are several symptoms and particular experiences people with CHD are forced to go through. Surgical treatment and catheter-based treatment are offered to almost every single CHD victim Jay Gangem, an MD in the surgical department of the University of Virginia, deals with. Special medical attention from birth is required. Gray- blue areas (cyanosis), rapid breathing, swelling, and tiredness, and only a few symp- toms of CHD. In severe cases, a heart transplant may be needed. Although the survival rate is high, the disease itself is taxing on an individual.

…and the Costs?

The expense of congenital heart disease treatment is in no way cheap. In fact, according to research published by the National Library of Medicine, overall, 89.1% of families with CHD have experienced a minimum of one financial burden. Most children with CHD require one or more surgeries which can be quite costly. According to the Kids’ Inpatient Database, in 2012 alone, total hospital costs for procedures done regarding CHD in children, over 6 billion dollars were spent, despite patients of CHD making up only 3.7% of hospitalizations in the United States of adolescents and children aged 0-20 years. Coincidentally, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the most expensive hospital stays for patients who have Congenial heart disease are that of infants, children, and adolescents. More specifically, hospitalization costs are generally more costly if the patient is less than a year old: 26.7% of total costs are mainly a result of staying in the hospital for an extended period. Nevertheless, hospitalization costs are high despite the age of the patient, with the average cost totaling about $25,000, which as can be guessed is a difficult sum alone to con- jure up for most people, not even including the cost of the actual treatment and hospi- tal services.

The Emotional Impact on Families

Mental distress can be suggested as something bound to happen as a result of a loved one being diagnosed with congenital heart disease. Statistics reported by a research paper poster by the National Library of Medicine report that approximately 14.9% of families of CHD patients display a need to utilize mental health services due to their child’s condition. Hence, although 14.9% might not seem like a lot in some cases, in terms of the United States in which about 40,000 newborns are diagnosed with CHD every year, the number of people openly requesting mental support amounts to around 5960. CHD has a high mortality rate but the war plan taken includes a dire lack of proper finance issues, scraping to keep up with medical bills, while also knowing deep down that in terms of how reality is, complete certainty of survival is never a given. Such a situation can be stated to be most definitely both physically and mentally taxing. Nonetheless, no matter what struggles family members may face, pulling through for the sake of the patient in their care is in most cases worth the while and effort given in hopes of better health.

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