A US hospital refused to perform a heart transplant on a patient, at least in part because he was not vaccinated against the Corona virus.
Patient’s father, DJ Ferguson, said his 31-year-old son was in dire need of a new heart, but that the staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston had removed him from their list.
He said the vaccine goes against “the basic principles of his son, (he) does not believe in them.”
The hospital said it was following the established policy.
“Given the shortage of available organs, we are doing everything we can to ensure that a patient who receives a transplant has the greatest chance of survival,” Brigham Hospital told the BBC in a statement.
A spokesman said that the hospital requires “a Covid-19 vaccine and a certain lifestyle for transplant candidates, to create the best chance for the success of the operation and to improve the patient’s chances of survival after the operation.”
The hospital’s carefully worded statement hints at other factors that may have been the reason for not performing the surgery in addition to not receiving the vaccine, but the hospital refused to discuss the details, citing patient privacy.
The hospital added that more than 100,000 people on waiting lists for organ transplants will not receive any organ within five years due to a shortage of available organs.
Ferguson has been in hospital since the Thanksgiving holiday on November 26, 2021, and suffers from a genetic heart problem that causes his lungs to fill with blood and fluid, according to an organization responsible for collecting donations.
The fundraiser said Ferguson was concerned that he might have a heart infection, a possible side effect of the coronavirus vaccine, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is rare and temporary.
The authority encourages recipients of members and those in their immediate circles to obtain full vaccination and booster doses.
After any organ transplant, a patient’s immune system shuts down almost completely, and even a common cold can be fatal, Arthur Kaplan, chief of medical ethics at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, told CBS News.
“Organs are rare, and we wouldn’t give them to someone who has a poor chance of surviving when others who have been vaccinated have a better chance of surviving after surgery,” Kaplan said.
Ferguson, a father of two and an unborn third child, remains in hospital, his family said.
His family indicated that he was too weak to be transferred to another hospital and that “time is running out.”
“My son is fighting bravely and has integrity and principles that he really believes in and that makes me respect him even more,” said David Ferguson, the patient’s father.
“It’s his body. It’s his choice,” he added.
And this isn’t the first time an unvaccinated American has faced health-care hurdles in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, a Minnesota woman sued a local hospital after doctors tried to separate her non-restorative husband from the ventilator he had been using for two months.
Just over 63% of the US population received both doses of the vaccine and nearly 40% of Americans received a third booster dose.