Introduction: A Heart That Couldn’t Wait

Kierra Campbell was 27 years old. A mother of seven. A fighter battling end-stage heart failure. She didn’t lose her life solely to illness; she lost it to an unforgiving bureaucracy that let paperwork outweigh the value of her life. Her heart medication was cut off because of a missed child support hearing that triggered a sanction, ending her Medicaid coverage. The IV drugs keeping her alive cost $1,000 a week. Without insurance, Kierra couldn’t pay. And without those drugs, her heart couldn’t keep beating.

Her last words, recorded in a heartbreaking message, ring like an alarm bell: “It’s over for me y’all. They’re stopping my medicine and everything… they set me up for the end stage of my life. Three months or less is what they gave me.” Her final plea, shared through a GoFundMe campaign, asked for just three more weeks of medication. Enough time, she hoped, to resolve the insurance paperwork and get back to her kids.

That time never came.

Here’s how quickly a life can unravel: Kierra had been hospitalized for over a month with severe heart failure. During that time, she missed a child support hearing. The court issued a sanction. Medicaid was terminated. The hospital’s pharmacy flagged her account. Her IV medications stopped. Within weeks, she was recording her final message. The entire sequence—from missed hearing to death sentence—took less time than most insurance appeals.

Kierra required continuous IV medications—likely milrinone or dobutamine—drugs that help failing hearts pump blood. These aren’t pills you can pick up at a pharmacy. They require specialized infusion pumps and monitoring. For someone with 10% heart function, they’re not optional. They’re life support.

This isn’t just Kierra’s story. It’s the story of a system that routinely fails the most vulnerable. Especially Black women. Especially poor mothers. Especially those already fighting for their lives.

When Healthcare Becomes a Luxury

Kierra’s case is shocking, but not unique. Across the United States, people are dying because they cannot afford their medications. A missed deadline, a rejected form, a bureaucratic delay—any of these can strip someone of their lifeline.

The connection between child support and Medicaid varies by state, but many states can suspend benefits for “non-compliance” with court orders. Missing a hearing—even while hospitalized—can trigger automatic sanctions. It’s a system that punishes poverty with more poverty, and in Kierra’s case, with death.

Take Cole Schmidtknecht, a 22-year-old from Wisconsin. He died of a severe asthma attack after his corticosteroid inhaler—a medicine he had used for years—jumped from $66 to over $500. The insurer changed its formulary without notifying him or offering affordable alternatives. Cole left the pharmacy empty-handed. Five days later, he was dead (People, 2024).

Or consider Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17-year-old with leukemia. She was denied a liver transplant by Cigna because it was deemed “experimental.” After public outrage, the insurer reversed course—but too late. Nataline died hours after approval (Wikipedia, 2024).

These stories share a haunting thread: lives hanging in the balance, pushed over the edge by price tags and policies.

Who Is Most at Risk?

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicaid is a critical safety net for nearly 94 million Americans (KFF, 2023). Yet it is a system plagued by red tape and administrative burdens. For low-income people—especially single mothers—even a minor disruption can be fatal.

And the data is even more alarming for Black women.

• Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women (CDC, 2022). • They are less likely to be believed by healthcare providers when they report pain or symptoms (Hoffman et al., 2016). • They are overrepresented in low-wage, uninsured, or underinsured jobs, which often lack paid time off for court hearings or medical appointments (National Women’s Law Center, 2023).

In Kierra’s case, a missed child support hearing triggered a sanction that cut off her insurance. The irony is cruel: the same system holding her accountable as a parent left her children motherless.

The Cost of Delay: Bureaucracy and Burden

Even short-term lapses in coverage can have catastrophic outcomes. A study published in Health Affairs found that people who lost Medicaid for just one month were significantly more likely to skip needed care, be hospitalized, or suffer health declines (Sommers et al., 2016).

This phenomenon is called “churn”—the cycle of gaining, losing, and regaining Medicaid coverage. Often caused by administrative snafus like income verification or missed notices, churn disproportionately affects people with chronic conditions.

Kierra had been hospitalized for over a month at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. Her heart function had dropped to just 10%. She couldn’t be discharged without her medication. But with her insurance canceled, the hospital couldn’t keep supplying the $1,000/week drugs. The system halted her care mid-crisis, effectively sentencing her to death.

Hospitals have patient assistance programs, but they’re often limited to short-term help or require lengthy applications. The Christ Hospital, like many facilities, was caught between providing uncompensated care indefinitely or discharging a patient to certain death. The real failure isn’t the hospital’s—it’s a system that forces such choices.

A Healthcare System Built to Exclude

In the U.S., access to healthcare is often tied to employment, marital status, or legal compliance. This design systematically disadvantages people already in crisis. Miss a court date? Lose your insurance. Lose your insurance? Lose your meds. Lose your meds? Lose your life.

Compare this to other high-income countries with universal healthcare systems. In other developed nations, Kierra’s story would be impossible:

• UK: The NHS provides all essential medications free at point of care for those with chronic conditions • Canada: Provincial health plans cover life-sustaining medications, with additional support for low-income patients • Germany: Mandatory health insurance covers all critical treatments with minimal co-pays (capped at 2% of annual income) • France: 100% coverage for long-term illnesses including heart failure

These aren’t perfect systems, but they share a principle: no one dies because they can’t afford medication.

GoFundMe as Healthcare: A National Crisis

Kierra’s last hope was not her doctor or her hospital or her elected officials. It was GoFundMe.

Her campaign asked for $3,000—three weeks of medication. The heartbreaking reality is that medical expenses have become the largest category of GoFundMe campaigns. It’s the digital equivalent of passing the hat.

But relying on crowdfunding to save lives is dangerous and inequitable. Success depends on visibility, social media reach, and the public’s willingness to be moved by your story. Kierra shouldn’t have had to tell the world she was dying just to get a shot at surviving.

How We Fix This: Policy and Prevention

The tragic loss of Kierra Campbell demands more than mourning. It calls for systemic change. Here are actionable steps to prevent another needless death:

1. Automatic Grace Periods for Medicaid Sanctions States must implement a 30- to 90-day grace period before terminating life-saving benefits due to court-related sanctions or missing paperwork.
2. Notification and Alternatives When Medication Prices Rise Pharmacies and insurers should be required to notify patients in advance of drastic price increases and offer affordable therapeutic alternatives.
3. Medicaid Portability and Court Accommodation Individuals involved in family court or support hearings should receive automatic Medicaid protections. Legal and medical systems must communicate.
4. Universal Coverage for Essential Drugs Congress must pass legislation that guarantees access to essential medications (like heart failure IV meds or asthma inhalers), regardless of insurance status.
5. National Patient Advocacy Corps Create a network of publicly funded patient advocates to help people navigate bureaucratic hurdles before they lose coverage or medication access.

Say Her Name: Kierra Campbell

Kierra tried. She fought. She didn’t ask for pity. She asked for time. For three more weeks. For a chance to live. Her children now live with the permanent silence of a mother who should still be here.

Her death is a policy failure, a moral failure, and a national failure.

But it doesn’t have to be the last one.

When we say her name—Kierra Campbell—we commit not just to remember her, but to change the system that abandoned her.

Seven Children, One Question: What Now?

Kierra’s seven children—the very ones the child support system claimed to protect—are now motherless. They’ve joined the ranks of children orphaned not by accident or crime, but by policy. Extended family, already stretched thin, must now fill the gap. The system that demanded their mother appear in court while dying has no mechanism to restore what it took from them.

What You Can Do

• Donate to medical GoFundMe campaigns, but also ask why they’re necessary. • Call your state Medicaid office and urge policies that protect against sudden coverage loss. • Support organizations like Families USA and the National Health Law Program that fight for healthcare access. • Speak out when you see injustice. Amplify the voices of those forced to fundraise for survival.

This isn’t just a matter of policy. It’s a matter of life.

Say her name. And make it mean something.

Note: This account is based on publicly available information including Kierra Campbell’s own video testimony and GoFundMe campaign. Some specific medical details have been inferred from standard treatment protocols for end-stage heart failure. The core facts—that a young mother lost Medicaid coverage due to a missed court hearing and died after losing access to heart medication—remain undisputed. IV heart failure medications like milrinone can cost $200-300 per day without insurance coverage, based on typical hospital pricing.

Sources

Hoffman, K. M., Trawalter, S., Axt, J. R., & Oliver, M. N. (2016). Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between Blacks and Whites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(16), 4296–4301. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516047113

Williams, E., Hinton, E., Rudowitz, R., & Mudumala, A. (2023, November 14). Medicaid enrollment and spending growth amid the unwinding of the continuous enrollment provision: FY 2023 & 2024. KFF. 

Shultz, C. L. (2025, February 7). When the cost of his asthma inhaler went up $500, his parents claim he couldn’t pay. Two weeks later he was dead at 22. People. https://people.com/parents‑sue‑after‑son‑dies‑of‑asthma‑attack‑blame‑usd500‑increase‑in‑meds‑8787290

Martinez, G. (2019, January 29). GoFundMe CEO: One‑third of site’s donations are to cover medical costs. TIME. https://time.com/5516037/gofundme‑medical‑bills‑one‑third‑ceo/

Sommers, B. D., Gourevitch, R., Maylone, B., Blendon, R. J., & Epstein, A. M. (2016). Insurance churning rates for low‑income adults under health reform: Lower than expected but still harmful for many. Health Affairs, 35(10), 1816–1824. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0455

Wikipedia contributors. (2025, July 23). Death of Nataline Sarkisyan. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 28, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Nataline_Sarkisyan