Man Can't Get Heart Transplant Because He's Not Vaccinated Against COVID

[Siwsan]

BOSTON (CBS) – David Ferguson is speaking out passionately on behalf of his son DJ. He says the 31-year-old is fighting for his life at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and in desperate need of a heart transplant. “My son has gone to the edge of death to stick to his guns and he’s been pushed to the limit,” Ferguson said.

The family says he was at the front of the line to receive a transplant but because he has not received the COVID-19 vaccination he is no longer eligible according to hospital policy. And Ferguson says his son refuses to get the shot.

“It’s kind of against his basic principles, he doesn’t believe in it. It’s a policy they are enforcing and so because he won’t get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant,” Ferguson said.

Brigham and Women’s released a statement saying, “And like 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.”

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2022/01/24/covid-19-vaccine-heart-transplant-boston-brigham-womens/?fbclid=IwAR1DfupC_9UaEETy0RCALy4eXvD6ldHnazcVEko3f8Z9Y6Tv74O7-99xTl0

[MuseRider]

1. I'm certain they knew about this before this critical time.

Surely it was mentioned before. Yes it is sad but the health of an entire world means we depend on each other so.......sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do for the good of everyone so........

[Raster]

56. OF COURSE THEY KNEW ABOUT THIS...

...sorry for shouting... There is NO WAY someone that needs a heart transplant, and is on the list, does NOT know that a Covid vaccination would be required. No way.

[MuseRider]

96. Yeah, I was being really snarky

and angry that anyone could be that pretentious.

"MY" this or that, always thoughts only of "MY" is a good part of the basic screwing with people to get them to this point where they are so OK with it they think nothing of saying it all out loud and here we are. It puts all of them in fighting mode because every one of them should have everything they want because "THEY" are more important and everyone else should just know that.

God knows I cannot imagine how someone feels in that position. I used to prep brain dead bodies for harvesting when I worked in the ICU. Nothing about that situation is good BUT back then people would accept that they were not in the first position and that they easily could die before a heart was available for them. The reason for that is that nobody, but a very few over privileged people, ever thought of it in those terms, it was not a competition nor was it judgmental about them personally.

[Auggie]

2. No shoes, no shirt, no shot, no service

[lagomorph777]

44. No shit, Sherlock.

[Auggie]

47. +1

[usaf-vet]

51. They owe it to the donor and the donor's surviving family members to use the heart where it stands..

...... the best chance to prolong the life of the recipient.

[colorado_ufo]

54. Yes!

His son wants his freedom of choice, he made his choice. No one else is responsible for the consequences. A heart is a most precious gift and is not to be put second to someone's political beliefs.

[calimary]

60. Made his own bed. But doesn't want to lie down on it.

Okay dude. Stand on your misguided “principles” to the death.

Consequences.

I’m sorry about this, but it’s hard to find sympathy.

Get the damn shot, DAMMIT.

[Shrike47]

67. Ditto. Not the hill I would die on but his decision. He should take responsibility for it.

[geardaddy]

64. This!

[Trueblue1968]

99. NO COVID VACCINE NO HEART FOR YOU. You don't deserve a transplant if you put people's lives at risk

karma is a ...........

[MaryMagdaline]

3. Bless his heart

[lagomorph777]

45. Duzie!

[LonePirate]

4. If his basic principles are more important than living, then let him remain unvaccinated.

Let the heart go to someone who believes in science and will protect their body before and after the transplant.

[calimary]

62. THIS!

[Delphinus]

74. Yes.

He is relying on science for a new heart - why such a disconnect? Even the dad doesn't get it.

[PJMcK]

5. So he chose to die

This patient made his own decision. It has consequences.

Hearts are incredibly valuable. There aren't that many available and the number of patients on the waiting list exceed the available organs. The hospital policy doesn't seem unreasonable given the severity of the transplant operation and the difficulties for recovery. Why waste a heart on someone who isn't taking care of themselves?

Would the hospital provide a liver transplant to an active alcoholic?

Sorry, but I don't have any sympathy for the anti-vaccination patient. The shot would be so easy. If he doesn't "believe in it," then he has the right to choose to die.

[LisaL]

6. After the heart transplant, patients are put on strong immuno suppressant drugs.

Which is why the vaccination should take place before the transplant, so they produce antibodies prior to the immune system being suppressed.

[Siwsan]

10. They mention that further down in the article

I've wondered if this is the direction transplants would take. It just makes sense.

[Rebl2]

43. Exactly!

Why waste a heart on someone who won’t get this vaccine to protect that new heart. I am sure he was warned months ago that he isn’t eligible since he refuses to be vaccinated.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

46. A fully vaccinated friend of mine had her 2nd Kidney transplant last May

Her Doctor in Iowa City said that she would be back to square one regardless as far as her Immune syayem was concerned. But because she was vaccinated against COVID, she would have better odds the kidney would not be rejected. There were still antibodies to give her some cover.

Being boosted in November, she is doing very well. But she has a younger son who has the same Kidney disease she had that resulted in her 1st kidney transplant 17 years ago when both had to be removed. He is on Dialysis, needs a kidney, yet refuses to get vaccinated. He had contracted COVID several months ago. Has since recovered and remains steadfast against vaccines of any kind.

I pray for my friend's son because my friend us very dear to me. She is on meds for life that will strain her Immune system. Masking around her in close quarters when out in public will be the new normal. I saw her last in August. Hope to see her in the coming weeks around her birthday in March.

[Horse with no Name]

7. So what is more important?

Your principles or your life?
This man has made his choice.
It is ridiculous to think that a precious organ would go to someone who wouldn’t protect it at all costs.
This man will leave the hospital immune compromised which means more susceptible to Covid.
Apparently he doesn’t want to live bad enough.
Sucks to be him.

[madaboutharry]

8. It is hard to feel empathy for such a stubborn and ignorant person.

A transplant patient will be on the receiving end of a multitude of powerful drugs. He apparently is ok with that, but not a vaccine. It defies logic.

[JT45242]

9. When someone picks the hill that he wants to die on.... let him

We are so desperate for heart transplants that we are genetically modifying pig hearts. So, the few that we have should only go to those who have done everything within their power to make it likely to be sucessful.

He has WILLFULLY CHOSEN NOT TO. That's it. A deadly pandemic is raging and he will be on immunosuppression drugs for the rest of his life and he refuses a vaccine.

He picked his hill. Let him die on it.

To the dad -- I hope that devotion to your orange messiah is worth burying your son before he turns 35.

[Walleye]

11. What could the principles possibly be? What is he trying to prove? I don't get these people

Willing to use the best 21st-century medical technology to get a heart transplant for chrissakes but won’t take a simple shot against a disease that killed 1 million Americans. I will never understand these people

[TreasonousBastard]

12. A heart transplant, you say...

Do you have any idea how many people are on that transplant list? And you, you insufferable, sefish, dipshit think you can upset a system that has been debated for years with doctors, lawyers and medical ethicists who know all of your fetid arguments? And have destroyed every one of them?

Go ahead and defy medical ethics, and ethics in general, just so you can defy the best medical knowledge of the day.

And on your way to Hell, be sure to celebrate. The person who takes your place on the list just might be.

[SheltieLover]

13. Choices have consequences

Thankfully, I can only begin to imagine the requirements for a heart transplant...

Covidiot.

[barbtries]

14. what a hill to die on.

31 years old. I hear donor organs are in short supply, it makes perfect sense that they wouldn't give one to someone who doesn't care about his own health enough to get a jab.

[Effete Snob]

15. Fuck him

It’s kind of against their basic principles.

[NQAS]

16. But he believes....

In the value of medical knowledge for a heart transplant and the scores of drugs he’ll have to take for the rest of his life.

[Blue Owl]

17. Not even a Jarvax 7

[spanone]

18. his body? his choice?

Moron.

[DBoon]

98. His cadaver - his choice

cemeteries are full of bad choices

[Zambero]

19. Sounds as if he needs a brain transplant!

[brewens]

20. I'd like to know his vaccination history. Like many others, if it's just this vaccine, then he

deserves whatever he gets. They should not waste a heart on him. I'm an organ donor and wouldn't want that.

[Farmer-Rick]

35. My spouse was on the kidney transplant list

It's a deceased donors list. Some other transplant waiting lists have live donors too.

The doctors for the deceased donors list for kidneys required all transplant recipients to get pneumonia, shingles and flu vaccines. They do an annual registry physical to ensure all vaccines are up to date. If you are physically able, you have to get those vaccines (before Covid) or you are taken off the list. You know this when you register for the list.

So the idiot probably had all those other vaccines but not COVID.

I guess he doesn't really want a transplant.

[Bettie]

21. He had to have known the consequences of his choices

Yes, he has the right to choose not to be vaccinated, but when you make a choice, you accept the consequences of that choice.

He decided that his allegiance to anti-vaxx sentiments is more important than his life.

[JustAnotherGen]

22. C'mon man

He's kidding me with this - right?

[AngryOldDem]

23. This policy is reasonable, FFS!

Jesus. Just get the damn shot. It’s certainly worth a new heart, isn’t it?

Getting way tired of these people.

[calimary]

77. You're not the only one getting sick and tired of these people.

I’m totally there.

Get the damn shot, Dammit.

[IronLionZion]

24. Sad, but that's long established policy. Same for the pig heart fellow

the dude who got the pig heart transplant had a history of refusing to show up to appointments or take his prescription meds so they took him off the list for a human heart.

[Aristus]

25. Doesn't sound like he's 'fighting', Dad; sounds like he's 'refusing'.

Tough luck...

[Deuce]

26. How little I care!

[BlueJac]

27. Oh well...

Maybe they should try to fix stupid first, but he is against that too! So it goes.

[JohnSJ]

28. Organ donations are a scarce resource. Because of that they want to utilize them in patients who

have the best chance. Choosing not to vaccinate puts one at higher risk then those who get vaccinated. Add to that the immunosuppressives they give to prevent organ rejections make this even more necessary

[rzemanfl]

29. I couldn't get back surgery last month until I quit using nicotine gum. n/t

[LaMouffette]

30. I've got "organ donor" on my driver's license, and I would definitely not want any of said organs to

be transplanted into someone unvaccinated. Being willingly unvaxxed is the height of selfishness and stupidity.

[Maine Abu El Banat]

31. That heart

Will be received by someone who believes in medical science, and they will have the best chance of longevity.

[elias7]

32. It's against his basic principles? So is transplanting at-risk patients against theirs.

[bronxiteforever]

33. Someone else who is in dire need of a transplant

will get that heart. If a loved one donated heart for transplant, I sure as hell wouldn’t want it wasted on someone who would treat that gift of life with disrespect.

“What medicines will you need?
You will need to take a lot of medicines after a transplant. These medicines will help to give your transplant the best chance of success, but they may have side effects.

Because different heart transplant centres use different medicines to prevent rejection and infection in their patients, it’s not possible to list or explain all possible side effects here.”
https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/organ-transplantation/heart/living-with-a-heart-transplant/heart-transplant-medicines/

[RB TexLa]

34. Good. These people should not be treated for anything

They should not be allowed to set foot in a medical facility.

[MontanaMama]

61. You know what?

I agree with this. 100%. Consequences of their actions. I’m sure they could find someone on FB to help them out.

[calimary]

82. I do, too. I've run out of patience and sympathy.

[pandr32]

36. "...he doesn't believe in it."

That just bloody gets me. It's a vaccine for Gawd's sake. You want to live in society than do your part!

[NanananaFatman]

76. Science is not.

Science is not a belief based structure.

You want belief, visit a church like place and worship whichever sky fairy you want.

It science is just a process and methodology to find out best understanding at this time. It ain’t perfect but it’s the best we got.

This dood want to pick a choose his s wince like a cafeteria Christian picks and chooses what they believe.

[keithbvadu2]

37. How can he trust the medicos if he does not trust them?

How can he trust the medicos if he does not trust them?

[Beausoleil]

38. In the words of the "great" Meatloaf

"If I die, I die!"

Just thank god they could stick to their (ignorant and selfish) principles.

The country's IQ goes up for every one of these deaths.

[zentrum]

39. They can't "waste"

......a heart on someone who's lifestyle makes him this blatantly high risk for dying.

It's not about punishing him. It's a judgement based on who can best use this precious resource. Someone who is vaxxed stands a much, much higher chance of surviving for years.

[femmedem]

40. My father died because he wasn't eligible for a liver transplant because of his age.

He was never a drinker; his liver failed after decades of heart medication. I miss him terribly, but I understood that patients who are likely to get more use out of donated organs are prioritized.

If I can accept that my father wasn't eligible through no fault of his own, this man and his family can accept that his choice to remain unvaccinated renders him ineligible as well.

[ProfessorGAC]

48. My Dad, Too!

My dad had jaundice (maybe hepatitis A or B?) when he was a little boy.
I don't drink much, and he drank less than me.
Yet, his liver went south & with the complications of diabetes, he died ay 69.
He retired at 67, and was sick for a year. He got one decent year of retirement.
He's the reason i retired 3 years ago. I already got 3x the good retirement years he got, & I'm still fairly healthy at this stage.

[femmedem]

73. It's heartbreaking that he died so young.

What a hard loss.
I'm glad you decided to retire early. I'm thinking along the same lines. I like my job but it is stressful enough so that I am often plagued with middle-of-the-night anxiety attacks--not conducive to a long, healthy life.

[Sherman A1]

41. Darn the luck

[tblue37]

42. They're *not* going to waste a heart by giving it to someone who won't take good care

of it.

[NYC Liberal]

49. Alcoholic says it's his right to drink and he'll keep doing it.

Is shocked when denied a liver transplant.

[Loki]

50. Choices have consequences.

My nephew, who was 42 and dying of liver failure due to alcohol, was placed on a transplant list with the caveat that he could not longer drink. He knew the consequences, but couldn't keep the contract. His place was given to another patient, and he eventually died. Yes, this is the reality and if he chooses to put that heart that will keep him alive at a high risk of failure because of his so-called "principles", then let the next person who values the gift receive it.

[pamdb]

52. no sympathy

"stick to his guns"

pure stupidity

If he was at the top of the list, I'm guessing he had time BEFORE the actual surgery, he would have had time to get the vaccine.

Go ahead, don't believe in it. Because I'm sure this 31 year old is a epidemiologist or at the very least, a physician. Yeah, right.

You reap what you sow.

[MiHale]

53. Wait, wait...

The science behind vaccines is suspect in his mind, but the science behind heart transplants is not.

Screwed up priorities.

[calimary]

83. It's HIS MIND that's suspect.

But some good will come of it. Others on the waiting list will be moved up. And the new number-one will get a transplant sooner.

[ffr]

55. No problem. Don't you folks say that Covid is the hoax that makes organs a black market item?

Ripped out of healthy individuals by unscrupulous doctors? You won't want the organ nor to have those doctors perform the work on your son. The same son who probably either stormed a hospital, calling Doctors and nurses murderers or did so on Facebook.

Example
https://www.reddit.com/r/HermanCainAward/comments/sc5gcz/update_wrong_burgundy_has_earned_his_hca_link_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Instead, go to your church and get the heart from someone there, one that probably came from someone that God chose you to have.

See. Divine!

[Norbert]

58. Sorry to be so callous but I don't feel sorry for him.

My brother would have loved to have the opportunity to get a heart transplant and would have jumped through any hoop necessary to receive one, including getting a vaccination. Sadly he was never afforded an opportunity before he passed.

[Fla Dem]

59. The son made his decision and ain't changing his mind. Well so too the hospital.

[vlyons]

63. Sorry dude, we don't waste valuable hearts on assholes

nt

[Effete Snob]

66. On the other hand, if anyone is in need of an asshole transplant

...this guy alone can probably take care of about a dozen people in need.

[Solomon]

84. Lol

You owe me a keyboard!

[NullTuples]

65. Such passive wording by the journalist, "has not received" - he CHOSE NOT TO GET IT

[Happy Hoosier]

68. Sounds like he made a choice. No sympathy. NT

[Corgigal]

69. I also read

on another article, that’s he’s the father of two young children.

Should love them enough to do everything he can for them. I guess nope. Freedom.
Poor kids.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

70. Vaxxed people often can't get transplants because unvaxxed are clogging beds for long periods

Heart transplant ICU dwell time is mostly two to three days.

Covid ICU dwell time is mostly two weeks or more.

[Warpy]

71. This isn't about the vaccine

This is about an arrogant little shit who doesn't want anybody telling him what to do.

Transplant patients have a whole platoon of people telling them what to do. If they listen, they can live for a couple of decades--plus.

If they don't a scarce organ was wasted on an arrogant little shit who doesn't want anybody telling him what to do.

Seeing a young person die is rough. Seeing a son die is rougher. However, this is on him and it's not about the vaccine. This is about failing the psych profile that evaluates a person's willingness to listen to experts and take care of their new heart, liver, or kidney.

[hamsterjill]

97. Well said!

Brilliant post!

[Maraya1969]

72. He's afraid of Myocarditis. This is the chance of that side effect. 0.0000216

So, he is more concerned about a .0000216 chance of a bad reaction and possible death than certain death without the transplant.

[Mariana]

86. The story doesn't suggest that he's afraid of side effects.

"He doesn't believe in it"
“I think my boy is fighting pretty damn courageously and he has integrity and principles he really believes in"

That doesn't read like his objection is about side effects. Much more likely that he thinks it's the mark of the beast or has tracking devices or contains aborted fetuses or some such bullshit.

I have to wonder if he expected them to back down in the end, and let him receive a heart anyway.

[Maraya1969]

95. Well I must have hallucinated it because I thought I saw it!

[W_HAMILTON]

87. You're more likely to get that from the virus than you are from the vaccine...

...soooooo, that excuse isn't really working in his favor either.

[gibraltar72]

75. Has anyone said stupid prizes??

[MissB]

93. Always bears repeating

[cab67]

78. Thoughts on a couple of lines from the article.

"We are aggressively pursuing all options," the father said.

Oh really? Have they pursued the option of getting the patient vaccinated?

He also said, "It’s his body. It’s his choice."

You know what? It may not entirely be the donor's choice, but it's his or her body, at least in part. Why waste it on someone who is very likely to die post-transplant when others who need organs are taking responsible steps?

[HipChick]

79. We need to respect his choice

Getting vaxxed is against his belief system

He'll have to deal with the consequences

[ProfessorGAC]

88. Nah!

We have to acknowledge his right to make that choice.
We don't have to respect it.
I sure don't respect such a foolish choice.

[Spider Jerusalem]

80. Clearly this person was never a good candidate for a transplant

if he's not going to get a vaccine now then he can't be relied upon to keep up with the medication regimen of immunosuppressants, etc that's required of a transplant patient.

[struggle4progress]

81. "More than five million Americans are .. living with heart failure. While .. 250,000 patients ..

might benefit from heart transplant, only 2,000 to 2,200 donor hearts are available each year"
https://www.brighamandwomens.org/heart-and-vascular-center/resources/heart-transplant

[bif]

85. Excellent! Nice to read some good news for a change!

[BobTheSubgenius]

89. So, let's see if we've got this straight.

He won't have a few cc's of vaccine injected into a muscle because Freedom.

But he's OK with a surgeon going through skin, subcutaneous fat, and sternum, stopping his heart and lungs so delicate work can be performed, being put on machines that breathe for you and circulate your blood ("WHEE! I"m Dick Cheney!!!&quot spreading his ribcage, and moving his deflated lung to the side so his heart can be severed from all venous and neural systems and a stranger's organ put in its place.

The vaccine option is too invasive, I guess.



Believe me when I tell you - open heart surgery is as invasive AF!!! I had two infected valves removed along with a piece of the heart muscle and got two prophylactic valves. It took MONTHS to revert from feeling like 105 years old to something within at least a decade or two of my chronological age, and literally years to get to feeling approximately my actual age. It took 3 weeks before I could walk 2 doors to the corner.

I had a sore spot on my arm from Pfizer x 2 and 1 Moderna. All of them combined would be WAY less painful than coughing while your sternum is healing.

[Bucky]

90. "stuck to his guns" in refusing to take a routine precaution against hurting others

I wonder if I can get a religious exemption from wearing my seatbelt. I wonder if I can take to the moral high ground and refuse to slow down in a school zone.

[Maru Kitteh]

91. Well, bye. nt

Last edited Tue Jan 25, 2022, 10:14 PM - Edit history (1)

[bullwinkle428]

92. So, medical science was responsible for all kinds of things that have

helped keep his pathetic hide ALIVE, and this is how he chooses to "repay". By refusing the vaccine.

[LiberatedUSA]

94. So right off the bat...

…I know he doesn’t think long term.

[Wingus Dingus]

100. Compliance with the regimens, both before and after transplantation, is

crucial. That's part of how they decide who gets the precious organs.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

101. From the Hoarse Whisperer

Link to tweet