PORTLAND, Ore. - Although people from around the country have come forward to say they would like to help, a baby boy who needs an expensive heart transplant is living on borrowed time.

There is a $1.5 million price tag on 2-month-old Laith Dougherty's life.  That's how much it will cost to give him the new heart he so desperately needs.

The baby's parents have health insurance but it does not cover transplants.  And the family makes too much to qualify for coverage under Oregon's state health plan.

Laith is currently being cared for at Oregon Health & Science University, which does not perform such surgeries.  The nearest hospital that does is Seattle Children's Hospital but they need the money up front.  The hospital released the following statement about Laith's case on Tuesday:

"It pains us to be in a position where we cannot provide health care services to all children who need them. We receive requests for financial support from families throughout the world and unfortunately do not have funds to care for every child in need.

We are committed to providing health care to children in the WAMI region (Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Unfortunately we do not have the funding to make the same commitment to children outside our four-state area. Patients who live outside our region are encouraged to work with their insurance company and members of their communities to raise the money needed to be seen at Children’s.

Children’s provided more than $86 million in un- and under-compensated care in FY 07/08 and that number is expected to grow to more than $100 million in FY 2009."

Medical ethicists say in these hard times more and more families are finding themselves under-insured.

"Any family that has these high deductibles and caps ends up sometimes with choices that look like being completely uninsured," said Dr. Susan Tolle, Medical Ethicist.

Laith's family is seeking donations online but they don't have much time.

"Really, at any moment if he were to get an infection, if anything were to change, he wouldn't survive," said Ghadah Makoshi, the baby's mother.