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In Oregon, a baby is fighting his own defective heart to stay alive and he has another adversary--a health-care system that won't pay for life-saving surgery.

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

"You either need to come up with the money up front, and the dollar amount will be 1.5 million dollars. Or you need to decide how your child will die," said Laith's grandmother Nancy Moe, who lives in Minneapolis.

Health insurance won't pay it, and hospitals that could perform the life saving operation have rejected him.

"Before they can even get on a transplant list, they need to be at a transplant hospital. So he's not even on a list for a transplant at this point," said grandfather Dave Moe.

"Our health care system is broken that children are being allowed to die," said Laith's mother Ghadah Makoshi.

She and her husband have insurance, but it doesn't cover transplants and the family makes too much to qualify for coverage under Oregon's state health plan.

In any case, the Portland hospital where Laith now is doesn't perform the surgery and the closest hospital that does, Seattle Children's, says because the baby is outside its region it has to have the money up front.

In a statement, the hospital said "it pains us to be in a postiion where we cannot provide health care services to all children."

Medical ethicists say in these hard times more and more families are finding themselves underinsured.

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

Laith's family is going online seeking donations 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," Makoshi said, as she stays close to her son, whose life now depends on the generosity of strangers.