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The cuts - which include certain kinds of pancreas, liver, heart, lung, and bone-marrow transplants - went into effect Oct. 1. Several national media outlets, including the New York Times, CNN and MSNBC, have reported on the impacts of Arizona's transplant cuts over the past two weeks, often dubbing the cuts "Brewercare" or "Brewer death panels."

As a result of news coverage, patients registered in the National Transplant Assistance Fund have seen a surge of donations. As of Saturday, Laveen liver-disease patient Francisco Felix had raised $74,124 and Mesa heart-transplant hopeful Randy Shepherd had raised $52,720, according to the organization. Both need to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

Democratic lawmakers, health-care professionals, patients and their families held a news conference on Tuesday to urge Brewer to restore the cuts.

"They're humans, just as much as every one of us here, as much as she (Brewer) is," said Sandra Felix, Francisco Felix's niece.

Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday that he wanted to revisit the cuts when the Legislature returns in January, because new data "suggest that some, if not all, of these transplants should be reconsidered for reinstatement."

However, Brewer won't call a special session without a plan to close the funding gap. Spokesman Paul Senseman said the $30 million left in stimulus discretionary funds has all been spoken for, and it can't be reallocated.

The Arizona Republic requested records from the Governor's Office three weeks ago that would show how the stimulus dollars had been allocated. As of Tuesday, the office has pointed to a report filed with the federal government that covers expenditures through Sept. 30. The office has not yet provided any information on stimulus allocations from Oct. 1 to the present.

Senseman said Brewer was open to new solutions and ideas to solve the state's budget crisis, but that she had not seen any "legitimate" proposals or scientific data yet.

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"Death Panels" could be back, Sarah Palin says. But this time they are not the creation of the Obama administration. No, these are the handiwork of the bipartisan debt commission.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, the former Alaska governor takes aim at several of the controversial commission's recommendations, saying the cuts it proposes "implicitly endorses the use of 'death panel'-like rationing."

Palin highlights the commission's proposal for an Independent Payments Advisory Board, a committee, she says, that will make "bureaucrats, not medical professionals, the ultimate arbiters of what types of treatment will (and especially will not) be reimbursed under Medicare."

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