Patient removed from heart transplant list for refusing Covid-19 vaccine

All the bad things happen to you after you get Covid. Not being vaccinated doesn't mean that you do. I can understand withholding a transplant for a Covid patient but not so much over a vaccination.

 

I think he's suggesting that transplant surgeons are all Dems, lol.

 

Yes, but he can get a different surgeon. It sounds like the hospital is the one setting the policy and hospitals are under different restrictions, especially if they receive public funding. You can't always go to a different hospital.

 

Yes, nothing is for sure but that includes the vaccine so... I think we are stretching chance at that point and it should be allowed.

 

Covid would probably have killed him at any point in the last two years. It didn't but not getting a transplant probably will. If the vaccine was as good at preventing infection as we were initially told I'd be on your side but it isn't. He could get his shot and his heart and Covid could still kill him, the risk is much the same.

 

What is "that" in your statement?

You can call the number on your insurance card and ask to be connected with a "Patient Care Advocate". That person will be able to tell you what options you have and possibly assist with finding a surgeon that is willing to consider your case. You may have to provide pre-surgery consideration documents and images so the doctor can review your medical history and determine your need and severity of the condition of your hip. All that means is you have so sign a ROI (Release of information to have those records and images sent for review).

The other thing I've done (it sounds silly) but I stopped by a couple of nursing homes (I was unfamiliar with the area where I lived when I fell and hurt my knee) and asked the employees at the desk if they knew of which surgeons the residents seem to like the most. They won't give details but most of them will tell you who the good ones are. Compare those names to the ones on your insurance list and you get a good idea on who to stay away from.

I wish you the best MelloGuy.

 

It sounds like his father is appealing to the public in the hope that a surgeon would be willing to reach out to them and help with this case.

I understand your point but I disagree with it.

Thanks for expounding on this for me.

 

Transplant patients will be on immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives, so they are more vulnerable to any infection. That's why they're expected to take a range of vaccines, not just Covid vaccines. They may nonetheless be more vulnerable to breakthrough infections, but it's hoped that vaccination will reduce the severity of symptoms. Although they haven't been as effective in the immunocompromised, transplant patients (among others) are now being giving four doses, in the US and UK at least, to overcome this deficiency. In short, it's not just for the transplant surgery, it's for the long run - making the most of an extremely valuable asset.

 

From the hospital in question:

• At the Brigham and across our system, we have transplant guidelines that we follow in alignment with recommendations from the American Society of Transplantation, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.

https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/transplant-candidate-vaccination

 

Yes of course he could still get infected. The purpose of the vaccine is to reduce the severity of Covid. Can it still kill you? Yes. But it's about doing everything possible to increase the odds that it - or any of the other conditions transplant patients must be vaccinated for - doesn't kill them. Whether or not you believe that Covid vaccines reduce risk is neither here nor there. Transplant surgeons have their opinion.

 

A lawsuit is quite likely to take more time than he has left.

 

It would be my guess that most if not all other surgeons would see non-compliance on this as a BIG RED FLAG in terms of their likelihood to adhere to their overall care plan.

 

I haven't read Bowerbird's links or looked into this further so I'm not entirely sure if the vaccine is required by the surgeon, hospital, Health Department and/or AMA.

Therefore, a surgeon or hospital requirement certainly would allow for the patient to find somebody else to help. And, as I stated previously, that's what this "news" is about - getting his name and situation before the public. It's easier to do that than trying to find a willing surgeon with a list and phone.

 

Ghouls.

 

No? Really?!?! Well geeze....that changes EVERYTHING!!!

/s

Nothing you said here changes what I said.

Tell me something, what is going to happen if he did get the vaccine and gets covid anyways? The ONLY thing that the vaccine does is lessen the symptoms to a degree. That is it. And that is when the immune system is working to begin with. And that is shut down when the transplant happens and takes awhile before its started up again. They purposely shut it down to reduce risk of rejection. And they don't turn it back on right away.

 

See my post #84 - it has a quote from the hospital's website, with link, explaining that they follow the recommendations of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons etc. etc.

Here's another, more specifically about the vaccine, and as you can see, they're not alone:

• Like most other transplant programs across the country, the COVID-19 vaccine is one of several vaccines and lifestyle behaviors that are required for patients awaiting solid organ transplant.

It's worth a read, as the page explains their rationale in detail.
https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/transplant-candidate-vaccination

 

All transplant recipients must follow the guided procedure. This is standard since transplants were viable. The fact that one of the required vaccinations is Covid is irrelevant.

 

It makes sense in a triage perspective. Scarce resource (donor hearts) go to those with the best chance of survival - which is why we crossmatch instead of just banging a heart into anyone - now given the horrific toll Covid causes in just ordinary surgical patients

https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/critical-intelligence-unit/living-evidence-surgery

 

Thank you for sharing that link. The last and penultimate items on the list...which certainly allows for the patient to request review for an exception. I can understand why it would be denied in favor of someone being compliant based on whatever actuarial reports provide for the best outcome statistically, but, this in now way, absolutely excludes the patient from consideration. Otherwise there would be no option for special review.

 

Evidently he's asked, and they've decided.

 

Well, that's the chance he took.

These kind of things annoy me because I knew someone years ago that wouldn't stop drinking. She has received THREE liver transplants. It is heartbreaking to think about the patients waiting for that call that a donor was found and she killed three livers (her own and two transplants). That doesn't sit well with me.

 

The issue is the degree of endothelial disruption vaccinated, even if you do catch the disease there is not the same degree of severity ergo less tissue disruption

 

One minute the left is saving china virus drugs for the people who are most at risk (guess who they are, pick a color); then the people who are most at risk are denied medical care. Only a totally conformed liberal would not see the hypocrisy of all that. And then there’s the phrase the left repeatedly said millions of times when pushing Obamacare: if it saves just one life. That phrase has never been repeated since then because closing the border and deporting illegals would actually save lives.

 

And if it is a near certainty that he will die post operative key? We do not know the full story here and this COULD just COULD be a way for a family to put pressure on a hospital to bump a patient up the list even when they are unqualified to be on the list due to multiple co morbidities

 

You’ll believe anything bad about “the left” won’t you? Did you also believe the bit about Hilary skinning babies?

As for Obamacare - why is the GOP not running on a platform of dismantling it?