A US patient urgently needs a donor heart, but the hospital is removing his name from the waiting list because he has not been vaccinated against Corona. But the decision is in line with the guidelines.
DJ Ferguson is in desperate need of a heart donor. The American has been suffering from a heart disease since birth, which causes blood and other fluids to pool in the lungs. His condition has continued to deteriorate in recent months and he has been in a Boston hospital since the end of November.
But the prospect of improvement is a long way off: The 31-year-old was removed from the transplant list because he was not vaccinated against Corona. “The vaccination goes against his principles, he just doesn’t believe in them,” his father told CBS. After his admission, the hospital initially put him on the waiting list, but has now removed his name because Ferguson continues to refuse the vaccine. But this is a prerequisite for a donor heart.
No vaccination against corona: patient is removed from the waiting list
“Given the shortage of available organs, we are doing everything we can to ensure that the patients with the best chance of survival receive a donor organ,” the hospital said in a statement. Vaccination is particularly important because the patient’s immune system is extremely weakened by the transplant – and any infection can be deadly as a result.
For this reason, the medical ethicist Arthur Caplan from New York University at CBS defended the clinic’s approach: “Organs are scarce, we will not distribute them to someone who has a low chance of survival if other vaccinated people have better chances of survival after the operation .” According to the hospital, there are currently 100 patients on the transplant list, most of whom are unlikely to be able to receive a donor organ within the next five years.
DJ Ferguson’s chances of recovery are getting worse with each passing day, desperation and helplessness are spreading in the family of the father of two. “We’re working flat out on all options, but we’re running out of time,” says his father. Regarding the Covid 19 vaccination, he supports his son: “My boy fights damn hard. He has principles that he really believes in and that’s why I respect him even more.” Whether he wanted to be vaccinated or not was his son’s decision alone, he emphasized.
Sources: / /
Source From: Stern
