Downstate baby denied surgery in Ind.

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana infant born with a rare condition that doctors say could improve with surgery may not get the procedure because Indiana's Medicaid program considers the procedure experimental despite a 73 percent survival rate.

Becky Petreikis of Dyer says son Seth was born without a thymus gland that produces the T-cells the body uses to ward off infections. She says he also has a heart disorder and will need a second open-heart surgery.

Seth is covered by Medicaid, but Petreikis says Indiana's Medicaid program won't pay for a thymus transplant at Duke University Medical Center because it's considered experimental. Duke says babies have survived in 43 of 60 surgeries.

Spokesman Marcus Barlow of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration says Indiana law bars Medicaid coverage for experimental procedures.