(Image source: ABC/Chrissie Rivera)

A three-year-old girl is being denied a kidney transplant that would save her life.

The girl’s mom says both her daughter’s doctor and hospital are refusing to give her the transplant she needs because she’s disabled. Here’s CNN.

“The doctor said no, we are not going to put her on the list for a kidney because she is - and these are, according to the Mom, the doctor’s words, mentally retarded. And that’s the reason they won’t put her on the list.”

Amelia Rivera was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome … a rare genetic defect causing her both mental and physical disabilities. But on a blog, her mom, Chrissie, says her condition shouldn’t keep her off the list.

“Do not talk about her quality of life. ... We have crossed many, many road blocks with Amelia and this is just one more. So, you don’t agree she should have it done? Fine. But tell me who I talk to next because SHE WILL HAVE IT DONE AND IT WILL BE AT CHOP.”

Amelia’s mom isn’t the only one angry over the doctor’s decision. After hearing her story, Sunday Stillwell - the mom of two autistic boys - began petitioning online. More than 32 thousand people have already signed up.

National pressure seems to be working. Chrissie and her husband say they’ve been invited back to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for another discussion about the transplant. The hospital responded to the public on Facebook as well, saying in the past, it has transplanted children with both mental and physical disabilities.

 “We’re listening. We hear your concerns and take seriously your posts, emails and phone calls. While we remain unable to comment ... we wish to state again that we do not disqualify potential transplant candidates on the basis of intellectual abilities.”

But her family says Amelia has not been put on the list. But Huffington Post Columnist Lisa Belkin says it’s just not realistic to expect that.

“She is being denied a donor transplant because she has a cascading syndrome that will shorten and limit her life, meaning that kidney will not ‘save’ her in the way that it might someone who starts out healthier.”

But that columnist points readers to a counter-post, from blogger Susan Senator, which also appears on The Huffington Post. She writes...

 “...it also feels a bit like Social Darwinism, or even eugenics. … [W]hat has me so upset over Amelia's doctors: the implication that some humans are better than others, when in fact, we are all a mess.”

Anchors at KYW-TV were surprised to learn doctors get the final say in who gets on the list.

 “Wow. There is no law that kind of governs this? No law - its an individual, case-by-case basis. They obviously love their daughter very much...clearly.”

Amelia’s parents are hoping they’ll be a match and that she won’t need to be on the list to get the kidney she needs.