Author Topic: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients  (Read 11636 times)

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Offline Shane for Wax

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Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« on: December 16, 2013, 06:48:24 pm »
Quote
Five-month old Maverick Higgs was born with a severe heart defect, and two surgeries later was still in heart failure. He needed a heart transplant, and fast. But after initially saying he was a candidate, the child's New York-Presbyterian doctors decided there was nothing more they could do to help. They said Maverick had six months to live.

The official reason given for denying Maverick the transplant was because he suffered from Coffin-Siris, a rare genetic defect that the doctors said would put him at risk for infection and tumors. They provided Maverick's parents with a study on the defect.

But when Maverick's mother, Autumn, contacted the study's author, she discovered that there was no evidence to support the theory that children with Coffin-Siris had compromised immune systems.

She was confused, but excited. But when she told the doctors, they still refused to go forward with a transplant to save Maverick's life.

And Maverick's mother figured out the most likely reason why was because the genetic defect did have some documented effects — namely developmental disabilities.

This weekend, CNN published a great, in-depth look at organ transplants and the vague, shrouded methods that doctors use to decide who gets a transplant and who doesn't. In the past, physicians were straightforward about denying transplants to disabled patients — "We do not feel that patients with Down syndrome are appropriate candidates for heart-lung transplantations," one doctor explained, denying a child a transplant in 1995.

But now, in an effort to avoid public outrage, some doctors manufacture other excuses.

Maverick's parents applied to four different hospitals, three of which turned her down, citing the Coffin-Siris defect or, in one case, "the big picture."

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"We do not feel that patients with Down syndrome are appropriate candidates for heart-lung transplantation." You read that right. Doctors are literally playing God and deciding who is worth saving and who isn't based on completely unrelated disorders.

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Offline Sleepy

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2013, 07:32:16 pm »
The number of people on the waiting list and the shortage of organs results in some really nasty moral decisions. When you've got two roughly equal people and one kidney, what's the best way to decide who gets it?
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Offline Shane for Wax

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2013, 07:50:54 pm »
Because Down syndrome has nothing to do with whether you'll reject an organ or not?

If you've got one guy with history of drug abuse and one guy who has Down syndrome I feel like the organ would go to the guy with the history of drug abuse considering all that I've read in regards to this whole situation. And if you know anything about how organ transplants work and what you need to do, drug abusers have to prove they've been clean x amount of time.

I'm not asking for a repeat of the kid with the lung where it was ruled in favor of morality and the poor sick kid trope. I'm asking that we think for a moment why those who are disabled, mentally or otherwise, are turned away time and time again even if they're doing everything else right.
« Last Edit: December 16, 2013, 07:54:01 pm by Commander Shepard »

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Offline Sleepy

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2013, 08:47:35 pm »
My post didn't say anything about whether I agree or disagree, just an overall comment on the matter. I can't say for certain who would get the organ in the drug abuser vs. Down's syndrome guy since it depends on a number of things (including the doctor), but it is a particularly sad situation all around.
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Offline The Illusive Man

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2013, 09:21:54 pm »
The number of people on the waiting list and the shortage of organs results in some really nasty moral decisions. When you've got two roughly equal people and one kidney, what's the best way to decide who gets it?
These moral grey areas as they provide a testing ground for professionals. Who determines what is better and why? As a professional you are expected to recognize when your objectivity is compromised then recuse yourself. If you are unable to do so then a third party steps in and throws you out.
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Offline Shane for Wax

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2013, 12:01:04 am »
My post didn't say anything about whether I agree or disagree, just an overall comment on the matter. I can't say for certain who would get the organ in the drug abuser vs. Down's syndrome guy since it depends on a number of things (including the doctor), but it is a particularly sad situation all around.

That, we can agree on. It is also why they have 'boards' made just for these kinds of decisions. They decide if you are eligible to get on the transplant list, but you also need a doctor to put your case in front of them. If the doctor personally decides you are unworthy based on something you can't control, that review board won't see your case.

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Offline mellenORL

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2013, 03:51:29 pm »
The desperate need to make organ donation the default by law is overwhelming. I wish someone would really back the organ donation movement with a ton of education adverts.

Targeting the stupidity of not donating for religious reasons is probably a waste of time, since such people believe they are going to be part of the Zombie Apocal- pardon, Resurrection.

Others who fear that they will be allowed to die in the ER if their blood type matches a top-of-the-list transplant patient also have a near impossible level of stupidity to overcome. It is such a bitter situation, that I would even make picture ads of just what disinterred corpses look like, even those perfectly embalmed, after a few years.

I.e., "You and your deceased loved ones will not be a pretty sight. When the deceased are middle aged or younger, often times all of those organs disintegrating 6 feet under could have saved; 2 kidney patients, 1 liver patient, 1 heart patient, offered the chance to see again to 2 blind people, the bone marrow could have been harvested to support many leukemia patients, harvested veins and bones to help trauma and cardiac patients, and skin to help burn victims. The fibrous matrix of many tissues could have also helped numerous people, as the patient's own cells can now be grown onto those matrices for replacement parts that don't cause rejection."
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Offline Witchyjoshy

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2013, 04:02:45 pm »
This is why my default reaction to "Would you like to be on the organ donor list?" will always be "yes".

I haven't accomplished much in life, but if in the case of an accidental death I can save people's lives... then I'm okay with that.

The rest of me can be turned into fertilizer.

Though I am upset that people with certain unrelated disabilities are just not even considered for the list.
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Offline Shane for Wax

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2013, 04:04:03 pm »
It's why I'm an organ donor first and on the list to be used in the body farm as a second option in case my organs are too bad for a transplant but a good exercise for the body farm.

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Offline Old Viking

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2013, 08:16:13 pm »
If doctors aren't the primary gatekeepers for transplant decisions, who should be?
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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2013, 10:41:59 pm »
It's why I'm an organ donor first and on the list to be used in the body farm as a second option in case my organs are too bad for a transplant but a good exercise for the body farm.

Likewise.  Especially with my being a fatty.  If there's SOMETHING of mine that can be made use of, then break out the scalpel and start slicing, doc!
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Offline kefkaownsall

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2013, 12:38:48 am »
I got it on my license

Offline Sylvana

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #12 on: December 18, 2013, 04:19:10 am »
Though I am upset that people with certain unrelated disabilities are just not even considered for the list.

The thing is, that given the severe shortage of transplant organs when weighing the value of the lives that can be spared, unrelated disabilities are important and should be considered.

If you have two people and say only one organ and one will die before another organ is available, if both patients are healthy in every other way except such disabilities, then the logical choice is to save the person who would potentially get the most out of an extended life.

It would be nice to save everyone, and give everyone replacement organs, but reality is never that pleasant. Shortage of organs can sometimes cause ideal approved candidates to die anyway simply because they ran out of time. When weighing the candidates for an organ, it is important to remember that those counsels are literally choosing who lives and who dies. If done correctly, it is a heavy responsibility and deserves in depth consideration.

If anything we should be truly upset about the corruption in those counsels. Our former minister of health was an alcoholic and had two liver transplants. There were even reports that she was drinking while in hospital. Those livers could easily have saved someone far more deserving, but because of corruption she was given the organs, and she pissed them away by continuing to drink like she used to. This is undoubtedly just one example of many and it is truly sickening.

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #13 on: December 18, 2013, 05:06:17 am »
Who's got the right to say disabled people get less out of life than neurotypical people?
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Offline Yla

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Re: Doctors Versus Disabled Patients
« Reply #14 on: December 18, 2013, 06:33:38 am »
Benefit to society would be another argument, if all other things are equal.

I was starting to compose a post here, and then I understood the importance of whether the term should be 'disabled' or 'differently abled'. Makes a world of difference.

I'll come back to this topic later.
That said, I've stopped trying to anticipate what people around here want a while ago, I've found it makes things smoother.
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