Decisions have Consequences (Page 1/9)
blackrams JAN 25, 07:24 PM


A Boston hospital is the latest to deny an organ transplant to a patient who refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19
https://www.msn.com/en-us/h...AT8HBX?ocid=msedgntp

A Boston hospital deemed a 31-year-old ineligible for a heart transplant because he refused COVID-19 vaccination.

Because organs are scarce, hospitals choose patients who are most likely to survive a transplant.
Transplant patients take immune system-suppressing medication, so vaccines are often required.
A 31-year-old father lost his opportunity for a heart transplant because he refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to CBS Boston.

David Ferguson told CBS that his son, DJ, whose heart is failing, has two children and a third on the way. The family said DJ was at the front of the line to receive a transplant at Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston. But he won't budge on the vaccine, which the hospital requires for transplant patients.

"It's kind of against his basic principles; he doesn't believe in it," Ferguson told CBS. "So because he won't get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant."

Each transplant hospital has a selection committee that decides who is eligible for new organs. Because organs are scarce, they often choose patients who are most likely to survive a transplant.

Committees may evaluate criteria, including whether the patient takes their medication regularly, how much alcohol they drink, whether they smoke, and their vaccination records. Protection against infectious diseases can be critical for survival, since transplant patients must take immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives in order to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organ.

"This is not a new issue," Dr. Alyssa Burgart, a transplant anesthesiologist and bioethicist at Stanford University, told Insider. "A patient's ability to fight off a lot of diseases can be compromised. And so for many transplant programs, this is seen as a way to protect the patient and the organ."

"I feel terrible for that patient, because he sounds like he is otherwise motivated for transplant," she added. "I think this really highlights how politically and societally entrenched it is for folks who are refusing vaccination, despite the overwhelming evidence of safety."

Brigham and Women's defended the decision in a statement to CBS, noting that the hospital follows similar protocols to other US transplant programs: "The COVID-19 vaccine is one of several vaccines and lifestyle behaviors required for transplant candidates in the Mass General Brigham system, in order to create both the best chance for a successful operation and also the patient's survival after transplantation."

Hospitals in Ohio and Colorado have also denied transplants to patients who refuse COVID-19 vaccination. The American Society of Transplantation strongly recommends that organ recipients and their household members be vaccinated against COVID-19. Experts at Loyola Medicine made the same recommendation in an ethics-based analysis earlier this month.

"Post any transplant — kidney, heart, whatever — your immune system is shut off," Arthur Caplan, the head of medical ethics at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine, told CBS. "The flu could kill you, a cold could kill you, COVID could kill you. The organs are scarce. We're not going to distribute them to someone who has a very poor chance of living, when others who are vaccinated have a much better chance post-surgery of surviving."

More than 106,000 people in the US are on the transplant waiting list for human organs, — waiting for the death of a registered organ donor who has a compatible kidney, lung, liver, or heart — according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. On average, 17 people die each day waiting for organs.

Transplant patients have a much higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than the average person, due to their weakened immune systems. Research has shown that kidney-transplant recipients with COVID-19 have a mortality rate between 13% and 39%. An early-2020 analysis of multiple studies found an average mortality rate of 20% among transplant patients with COVID-19. In comparison, the COVID-19 mortality rate in the general US population is around 1.2%.

All I can say is what I've said previously, decisions have consequences. In this case, it appears he'd rather die than get vaccinated. Personally, I think the patient is making a huge mistake but, it's his decision.

Rams

[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 01-25-2022).]

steve308 JAN 25, 08:01 PM
Maybe this is a option...
In a medical first, doctors transplanted a pig heart into a patient in a last-ditch effort to save his life and a Maryland hospital said Monday that he's doing well three days after the highly experimental surgery.
Patrick JAN 25, 08:03 PM

quote
Originally posted by blackrams:

"It's kind of against his basic principles; he doesn't believe in it," Ferguson told CBS. "So because he won't get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant."



So this guy has no objections to having an internal organ from a deceased person transplanted into his body... but he won't accept a vaccination? Sounds to me like this individual has more issues than just with his heart.
blackrams JAN 25, 08:20 PM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

So this guy has no objections to having an internal organ from a deceased person transplanted into his body... but he won't accept a vaccination? Sounds to me like this individual has more issues than just with his heart.



I agree, the fact that he has two kids and one on the way makes this decision even more perplexing. I guess he doesn't care if he ever sees those kids grow up. Doesn't make a lick of sense to me. If I was his father-in-law, we'd be having a serious discussion.

Rams
Raydar JAN 25, 08:24 PM
This is just kind of business as usual.
If you do something that is considered (by the medical community) to be detrimental to your own health, they'll send the transplant to someone who will "take better care of it".

And, somewhere in Texas, you can hear the muted sound of a head exploding.

Nevermind.
MidEngineManiac JAN 25, 08:30 PM

quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

So this guy has no objections to having an internal organ from a deceased person transplanted into his body... but he won't accept a vaccination? Sounds to me like this individual has more issues than just with his heart.





Oh, boy.

#1, its not a vaccine. It is an experimental gene therapy.

#2, it is NOT "approved". It has an emergency use authorization which some jurisdictions are pulling, as well as banning the scamcine.

#3, it does nothing to protect from or stop the spread of covid.

#4, it is provably far more lethal than the virus it was supposed to address.

#5, it has NOTHING to do with "health" or "safety" or "reducing numbers" or anything else besides forced compliance, and money. RIGHT from day one it was always about "flatten the curve" so as not to cost the health-care system cash they don't want to spend. All they want to do is prolong the scamdemic for their own pockets.

#6, the compliance part is, if they allow dissidents to go "unpunished" and get away with being refuseniks, others will follow our lead at SOME point along the never ending booster program, and thats going to cost them money. See #5. So they make some very public examples of dissadents.

Is it clearer now ?
BHall71 JAN 25, 08:38 PM

quote
Originally posted by MidEngineManiac:




Oh, boy.

#1, its not a vaccine. It is an experimental gene therapy.

#2, it is NOT "approved". It has an emergency use authorization which some jurisdictions are pulling, as well as banning the scamcine.

#3, it does nothing to protect from or stop the spread of covid.

#4, it is provably far more lethal than the virus it was supposed to address.

#5, it has NOTHING to do with "health" or "safety" or "reducing numbers" or anything else besides forced compliance, and money. RIGHT from day one it was always about "flatten the curve" so as not to cost the health-care system cash they don't want to spend. All they want to do is prolong the scamdemic for their own pockets.

#6, the compliance part is, if they allow dissidents to go "unpunished" and get away with being refuseniks, others will follow our lead at SOME point along the never ending booster program, and thats going to cost them money. See #5. So they make some very public examples of dissadents.

Is it clearer now ?




Hit the nail on the head!

Brian
blackrams JAN 25, 08:42 PM

quote
Originally posted by MidEngineManiac:




Oh, boy.

#1, its not a vaccine. It is an experimental gene therapy.

#2, it is NOT "approved". It has an emergency use authorization which some jurisdictions are pulling, as well as banning the scamcine.

#3, it does nothing to protect from or stop the spread of covid.

#4, it is provably far more lethal than the virus it was supposed to address.

#5, it has NOTHING to do with "health" or "safety" or "reducing numbers" or anything else besides forced compliance, and money. RIGHT from day one it was always about "flatten the curve" so as not to cost the health-care system cash they don't want to spend. All they want to do is prolong the scamdemic for their own pockets.

#6, the compliance part is, if they allow dissidents to go "unpunished" and get away with being refuseniks, others will follow our lead at SOME point along the never ending booster program, and thats going to cost them money. See #5. So they make some very public examples of dissadents.

Is it clearer now ?



Doctor MEM,
Appreciate your input.

Regardless of your advice, I believe I would have chosen to see my kids grow up. But, that's just me. As I said, decisions have consequences. If you were in the same positon and somehow, they found a heart that might keep you living but, to get that heart you need to be vaccinated to get that heart, a decision to not get vaccinated seems pretty silly to me. You do realize that getting a new heart is hard to do. And, those committees don't just approve heart transplants for those not desperately needing them. Finding another match before he gets beyond recommended status may not happen.

Rams

[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 01-25-2022).]

williegoat JAN 25, 08:59 PM
This is America. You pays your money and you takes your choice. No sniveling.

The way I see it, the guy has two options:
1) certain death
2) maybe death

It seems like an easy decision to me, but what do I know? I chose the Fiero.
Patrick JAN 25, 09:11 PM

quote
Originally posted by MidEngineManiac:

Is it clearer now ?



It's been clear to me for a long time that there's an element of society who see themselves as some sort of pseudo Marlboro Man rebel, constantly whining about whomever they perceive as giving the orders and/or running the show. The rest of us have grown up.