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Did you hear the story about the Seattle, Washington man who died after being denied a liver transplant because he used physician prescribed marijuana?
This horror story is just another effect of the failure of our “altruistic” organ donation system. It hasn’t worked for twenty-four years and will not work in the next twenty-four, or fifty-four or a hundred-four. To prevent this kind of discrimination we simply must change our approach to organ donation. Until we do, hospitals will continue to discriminate based on who they believe is the best candidate to receive a donated organ. The best candidate, though, is not always the sickest candidate.
56-year-old Timothy Garon, a Seattle, Washington resident, died after doctors refused to list him for a liver transplant. The rejection, according to the hospital, was partly due to his use of medical marijuana. Under federal law, marijuana is an illegal drug with no medical benefits. Several states including Washington, Nevada, Oregon and California allow its use for medical purposes. Marijuana is often prescribed to ease the symptoms of glaucoma, diabetes, high blood pressure and AIDS. The drug has also been shown to aid the appetites of patients who are not eating.
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Because transplant hospitals see federal law as superseding state law they can view marijuana as an illegal addictive drug and therefore refuse organ transplants for patients who use the medically prescribed substance.. So even if you are in a state where prescription marijuana is legal, transplant hospitals can view you as a habitual illegal drug user and deny you an organ transplant. What?
Ironically, the continued use of other addictive medicines like Oxycodone, do not automatically disqualify patients from transplant lists, because they are legal. Wow, what convoluted logic.
I don’t know what kind of evidence is necessary for us to change the system to presumed consent and financial incentives (see my blog of May 13, 2008), but what more do we need? Over 150,000 people have died because the current system could not provide them with needed organs. Isn’t twenty-four years of failure evidence enough?
Please read and comment on myWorld Wide Issues blogs onhttp://blogsbybob.wordpress.com. Also…visit myFacebook site, Organ Transplant Patients, Friends and Youat http://tinyurl.com/225cfh OR — myFacebook home page http://www.facebook.com/home.php
.
Did you hear the story about the Seattle, Washington man who died after being denied a liver transplant because he used physician prescribed marijuana?
This horror story is just another effect of the failure of our “altruistic” organ donation system. It hasn’t worked for twenty-four years and will not work in the next twenty-four, or fifty-four or a hundred-four. To prevent this kind of discrimination we simply must change our approach to organ donation. Until we do, hospitals will continue to discriminate based on who they believe is the best candidate to receive a donated organ. The best candidate, though, is not always the sickest candidate.
Ironically, the continued use of other addictive medicines like Oxycodone, do not automatically disqualify patients from transplant lists, because they are legal. Wow, what convoluted logic.
I don’t know what kind of evidence is necessary for us to change the system to presumed consent and financial incentives (see my blog of May 13, 2008), but what more do we need? Over 150,000 people have died because the current system could not provide them with needed organs. Isn’t twenty-four years of failure evidence enough?
Please read and comment on myWorld Wide Issues blogs onhttp://blogsbybob.wordpress.com. Also…visit myFacebook site, Organ Transplant Patients, Friends and Youat http://tinyurl.com/225cfh OR — myFacebook home page http://www.facebook.com/home.php