Until heart transplants are as commonplace and ubiquitous as chemotherapy, dialysis, or limb prosthetics, it's my opinion that we should continue to have a rigorous qualification process that includes a thorough evaluation of someone's criminal and social history, that makes assessments and predictions about future compliance based on past behavior. That is the moral way to go about allocating scarce resources, IMO, if we want to talk about morality in the organ distribution system. A criminal lifestyle is a CHOICE. It's not an accident, or a "youthful indiscretion."
Noncompliance is not the same as "no medical history." This teen and this family was noncompliant, probably worsening his condition much faster because of their noncompliance. The committee evaluated an extended period of noncompliance from the time of initial presentation, right up to the day they considered whether he should be on the transplant list. Part of that consideration includes what was offered to the family in the way of support, transportation to appointments, options for schooling, etc, and how they participated with various plans for his care. The FAMILY was non-compliant. They wanted a "quick fix", and were unable to properly consider the implications of his original illness, or what the transplant would mean long term, IMO.
Believe it or not, a heart transplant is an elective procedure. Even hip and knee replacement patients have a long list of requirements and education to fulfill before being approved.
I stand by what I said earlier. This teen was a terrible candidate for this transplant. The committee was right the first time around. The very scarce organ was a complete waste on this individual-- for which he and his family probably never paid a single penny toward his care-- so this story is NOT about "poor people being denied expensive care." Not only that, he continued to go on hurting a lot of other people, and committing crimes.
Are we now going to give heart transplants to death row inmates?? Because this situation was just about that ridiculous, IMO. The only place this teen would have had a chance to be compliant with his post transplant regimen is if he was incarcerated in a prison hospital ward, because turning him loose back to the streets of his violent urban neighborhood with a new heart and a few bottles of pills guaranteed failure for him, and his crime victims.
The qualification process for this teen was a complete failure, IMO, and should not be so easily influenced by those able to muster up activists to fan the flames of race-based "faux outrage", or whip up social media publicity. That is the real issue-- the corruption within the organ distribution process that permits exploitation of the system for those able to figure out how to manipulate.
The Murnaghan case is another case of extreme manipulation of the system, but it's a "success" (she is now 12 and off the vent), but at what cost?
