Sick Atlanta Teen Kept Off Transplant List

[defense101]

And by the way if that is the criteria I will be off the donor list.

 

[ArianeEmory]

These stories are usually head-scratchers for me. Obviously there aren't enough organs to go around at any given time. SOMEONE has to decide who is a good candidate and who isn't. I'm fine with that being people in the actual medical field, not the court of public opinion. For every person who is denied and turns into a cause célèbre, even if they get bumped up/put on the list as a result of outrage...that's another person who, in turn, got bumped DOWN and may die. Are they less deserving because their family didn't have the money or means to get their story into the press?

I just don't think this is the kind of decision that should be emotion-driven. We'd all feel differently if it was a loved one, right? Which is exactly why someone objective has to make the decision, for the greater good.

 

[defense101]

These stories are usually head-scratchers for me. Obviously there aren't enough organs to go around at any given time. SOMEONE has to decide who is a good candidate and who isn't. I'm fine with that being people in the actual medical field, not the court of public opinion. For every person who is denied and turns into a cause célèbre, even if they get bumped up/put on the list as a result of outrage...that's another person who, in turn, got bumped DOWN and may die. Are they less deserving because their family didn't have the money or means to get their story into the press?

I just don't think this is the kind of decision that should be emotion-driven. We'd all feel differently if it was a loved one, right? Which is exactly why someone objective has to make the decision, for the greater good.

I spoke to my sister who is an RN and deals with this all the time and she said yes it does make a difference in as to who would comply with taking the meds and a bunch of other things, we argued over it as I myself was alcohol dependent at a point in my life, does that me unworthy of having a transplant? No she told me but when you go in for the psychiatric test lie through your (well you know where) otherwise you won't get it.

 

[ArianeEmory]

But that's my point--it's not about declaring a single individual unworthy/undeserving or a "bad" person.

It's that there aren't enough to go around.

So it doesn't matter if everyone is 100% worthy--there still has to be a means of prioritization. Someone has to make a list. Someone has to decide. They try to decide based on who will reap the greatest medical benefit. I'm sure it's imperfect, as all human-based solutions are, but it's far better than several other ways of doing it I can easily think of off the top of my head.

 

[jjenny]

It's not about being worthy or not. If his family is not able to get him to appointments or buy his meds, his heart will be rejected and he will die.
I am not sure what is the point of transplanting an organ into someone that will not be able to maintain the lifestyle necessary to keep that organ working?

 

[Linda7NJ]

It's not about being worthy or not. If his family is not able to get him to appointments or buy his meds, his heart will be rejected and he will die.
I am not sure what is the point of transplanting an organ into someone that will not be able to maintain the lifestyle necessary to keep that organ working?

Being born poor or impoverished shouldn't be a death sentence in this "wonderful" country of ours.

 

[jjenny]

Being born poor or impoverished shouldn't be a death sentence in this "wonderful" country of ours.

While it should or shouldn't, if he doesn't take the meds and doesn't go to appointments, it will likely be. We are not talking about some routine surgery here. We are talking about a very serious surgery, after which a patient needs to take meds for the rest of his/her life.

 

[meanmaryjean]

Being born poor or impoverished shouldn't be a death sentence in this "wonderful" country of ours.

It isn't. Every day in my workplace, lives are saved, complicated expensive surgeries are performed and care is rendered to LOTS of people with no means to pay. And this is repeated in every state of the union in this wonderful country of ours. And who pays for this care? The taxpayers and private charities / citizens.

In fact, people in this country lovingly provide medical care, at no cost, to untold millions in impoverished nations. Nations where there ARE no transplant lists, children's hospitals or neonatal ICUs.

Far from being a 'death sentence' being born poor in THIS country is the equivalent of luxury in much of the world. Think about it.

 

[popsicle]

[h=1]Teen Initially Denied Heart Transplant for History of ‘Non-Compliance’ Gets One. Now He’s Dead After Leading Police on High-Speed Chase.[/h]

Police told the news station he had stolen a car and then broke into a woman’s home where he shot at her.

When police spotted the stolen car, he took off, leading them on a chase. Eventually, he lost control of the vehicle and, before wrapping it around a pole, he hit a pedestrian. The pedestrian was listed in stable condition after being taken to the hospital.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...dead-after-leading-police-on-high-speed-chase

 

[Hiandmighty]

Yup. Love the photos of him with wads of money in his mouth and with a gun pointed at the camera.

 

[Hiandmighty]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3021384/Heart-recipient-17-dies-high-speed-police-chase-crash-two-years-nearly-denied-transplant-bad-behavior.html

 

[al66pine]

When I first saw this headline in The Blaze,
"Teen Initially Denied Heart Transplant for History of ‘Non-Compliance’ Gets One.
Now He’s Dead After Leading Police on High-Speed Chase"
I wondered if it was April Fools joke. No, but it seems to be an accurate but sad summary.
.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/04/01/teen-initially-denied-heart-transplant-for-history-of-non-compliance-gets-one-now-hes-dead-after-leading-police-on-high-speed-chase/?utm_source=TheBlaze.com&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=story&utm_content=teen-initially-denied-heart-transplant-for-history-of-non-compliance-gets-one-now-hes-dead-after-leading-police-on-high-speed-chase

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rs-nearly-denied-transplant-bad-behavior.html

"... back in 2013, Stokes had said he was excited... heart transplant ..."
'So I can live a second chance,' he said. 'Get a second chance and do things I want to do."
.
And he got a second chance and did the things he wanted to do.

 

[Hiandmighty]

I surely don't have a wad of money to take pics of in my mouth. Crime pays.

 

[Leilei]

Jmo. People that donate their organs are giving a part of themselves. It would be horrible if this most precious gift was not given to a person who treasured it.

Yoda showing that wisdom back in 2013.

Looking through his FB, I see a young man who never valued the gift that he was given. In my opinion.

 

[Yoda]

This is devastating on so many fronts. How sick the families that have had a loved one that donated their heart must feel. Or the families whose loved one didn't get a heart and died. Or the families that are on the donor list waiting for a donation. Or the members of the committee that reversed their decision. Even those who have checked to be organ donors. smh

 

[Morag]

Dick Cheney got one of those scarce hearts after 40 years of heart ailments. At the age of 71. Many might have thought that to be unfair, too.

 

[Hiandmighty]

Dick Cheney is a model heart patient. He takes care of his gift and that is all I care about in that respect.

Anthony Stokes should NEVER have been allowed to get on the list and then jump to the front and then get a heart that would allow him to continue as a derelict member of society who committed crimes, car jacked someone, shot at an elderly lady when he broke into her house, led police on a high speed chase and ran into an innocent pedestrian, putting that person in the hospital.

It is a tragedy that he wasted a heart.

 

[al66pine]

Dick Cheney got one of those scarce hearts after 40 years of heart ailments. At the age of 71. Many might have thought that to be unfair, too.

"Unfair" how so?
Did Dick Cheney* fail to meet guidelines in "Allocation of Hearts"
http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/ContentDocuments/OPTN_Policies.pdf#nameddest=Policy_06
Sec. 6.1.A or 6.1.B - Adult Heart Status Requirements?
Or whatever requirements were in effect at time & place his surgery was done?

Requirements for heart transplant candidates are designed to provide organs to those who are most likely to benefit from them.
Are ppl who do not take their meds & fail to attend appmts likely to benefit from receiving organs?
Meds & apptmts are a few reqmts among many necessary to benefit recipients, as shown by medical studies.
As transplant surgery data are aggregated & analyzed, some requirements may be relaxed, and guidelines changed (IIUC).

I imagine--
-every single one of the 3100* patients on the heart list want to jump to # 1, and
- every single one of the hundreds? thousands? of ppl w bad tickers
who do not even qualify for the list would also like to be # 1.
If one of my loved ones could not make the list, I'd be disappointed, even heartbroken.

Should we ditch lists?
Should ppl who make the loudest noises in soc media & MSM to leapfrog right into the OR?
_________________________________________________________________
* Dick Cheney went on heart transplant waiting list at age 69,
was on list nearly 2yrs, and was just over age 71 at time of surgery.

** More than 3,100 Americans currently are on the national waiting list for a heart transplant. Just over 2,300 heart transplants were performed last year, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. And 330 people died while waiting.
The group also reports 332 people over age 65 received a heart transplant last year.
The majority of transplants occur in 50- to 64-year-olds.
More than 70 percent of heart transplant recipients live at least five years,
although survival is a bit lower for people over age 65.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/24/cheney-recovering-from-heart-transplant-surgery/ Mar 24 2012

 

[TrackerSam]

The same for liver and kidney transplants. If you're an alchoholic who continues to drink, you're not getting one.

 

[Zuri]

The fact that so many people died waiting for a transplant and this young man wasted his gift is just so sad. Sometimes you just can't fix stupid. IMOO