Chris Lange, FISM News
Disturbing reports have emerged of patients being taken off of life-saving organ transplant lists based on their COVID-19 vaccination status. CBS Boston reported Monday that a 31-year-old father has been removed from the heart transplant list at a Boston hospital because he has refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
The family of D.J. Ferguson says he was “first on the list” to receive the transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital but was deemed ineligible based on his vaccination status. Ferguson’s father, David Ferguson, said his son is fighting for his life and is in desperate need of the transplant. The hospital has denied having organ transplant list rankings, saying that priority allocation is based on a multitude of factors, but did admit that vaccination status is considered in determining who can receive a transplant.
“[L]ike many other transplant programs in the United States – the COVID-19 vaccine is one of several vaccines and lifestyle behaviors required for transplant candidates in the Mass General Brigham system in order to create both the best chance for a successful operation and also the patient’s survival after transplantation,” the hospital said in a statement provided to the CBS affiliate.
David Ferguson said his family is weighing the risks of relocating D.J. to another hospital that doesn’t have a vaccination policy but fears he is too weak to be moved at this time.
“We are aggressively pursuing all options, but we are running out of time,” David said. “I think my boy is fighting pretty damn courageously, and he has integrity and principles he really believes in, and that makes me respect him all the more,” he added. “It’s his body. It’s his choice.”
D.J. has been hospitalized since November due to a buildup of fluid in his lungs caused by a hereditary heart issue, according to a GoFundMe page created by his family. The page also states that Ferguson has refused the vaccine over fears of developing heart inflammation linked to the vaccine, in rare cases, which could further complicate his condition.
Ferguson’s ordeal does not appear to be an isolated incident. In October, a Colorado woman was removed from a kidney transplant list because neither she nor her living donor had been vaccinated, according to the New York Post.
UCHealth, which operates hospitals and urgent care facilities throughout Colorado, confirmed that organ transplant recipients and living donors are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to qualify for transplant surgeries, citing a higher mortality rate among unvaccinated patients who contract the virus.
“Physicians must consider the short- and long-term health risks for patients as they consider whether to recommend an organ transplant,” UCHealth told the Post at the time.
In a separate incident, Mike Ganin of Ohio, who is vaccinated, was denied a kidney transplant in October by the Cleveland Clinic because his donor hadn’t received the shot, according to Cleveland’s WKYC.