A 31-year-old father was denied a heart transplant by a Boston hospital because he refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to Business Insider, David Ferguson told CBS Boston that his son, DJ, whose heart is currently failing has two kids and another on the way.
Dj was at the top of the list to receive a new heart at Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston, however, he chose to not get the vaccine, which is one of the hospital’s requirements for transplant patients, reports ABC.
“It’s kind of against his basic principles; he doesn’t believe in it,” Ferguson told CBS. “So because he won’t get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant.”
Each transplant hospital has a selection committee that decides which patient is the most eligible and are most likely to survive the transplant.
They evaluate criteria that includes whether the patient takes their medication regularly, what their alcohol intake is, whether they smoke, and their vaccination records.
Since transplant patients must take immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives in order to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organ, protection against infectious diseases can be essential for survival.
CBS reported that Brigham and Women’s defended the decision by pointing out that the hospital follows similar protocols to other US transplant programs:
The Mass General Brigham system requires transplant candidates to have several vaccines and lifestyle behaviors in order to create the best chance for a successful transplant and for the patient to survive after the surgery.
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