Marijuana patient denied transplant?
If one just read the headlines, one would think that this poor dying patient was given a death sentence because of those evil drug laws. It’s being spun all over the internet, in Salon and in the news.
You have the dramatic dying patient
face and arms are hauntingly skeletal, but the fluid building up in his abdomen makes the 56-year-old musician look eight months pregnant.His liver, ravaged by hepatitis C, is failing. Without a new one, his doctors tell him, he will be dead in days.
Yada yada yada.
Actually, the AP Reporter did a good job, because if you actually read past the first two paragraphs, you find the doctor’s side of the story is there, and that there are some very good reasons to keep him off the tranplant list.
Let me talk about medical marijuana. There are probably substances in marijuana that would be valuable for our patients. But herbal medicines are risky. The dosage can vary from one batch to another, and it has a high incidence of sedation/confusion side effects.
This patient grows his own Marijuana because his doctor prescribed it to him, legally. He has “manufactured” so much of the weed he is in trouble with the cops.
His doctor is not a pain specialist, but only a Family physician with expertise in the state’s early HIV intervention program. He denies knowing that giving a person with a history of drug abuse an addictive substance that interferes with thinking might make doctors less likely to tranplant a patient.
You have the dramatic dying patient
face and arms are hauntingly skeletal, but the fluid building up in his abdomen makes the 56-year-old musician look eight months pregnant.His liver, ravaged by hepatitis C, is failing. Without a new one, his doctors tell him, he will be dead in days.
Yada yada yada.
Actually, the AP Reporter did a good job, because if you actually read past the first two paragraphs, you find the doctor’s side of the story is there, and that there are some very good reasons to keep him off the tranplant list.
Let me talk about medical marijuana. There are probably substances in marijuana that would be valuable for our patients. But herbal medicines are risky. The dosage can vary from one batch to another, and it has a high incidence of sedation/confusion side effects.
This patient grows his own Marijuana because his doctor prescribed it to him, legally. He has “manufactured” so much of the weed he is in trouble with the cops.
His doctor is not a pain specialist, but only a Family physician with expertise in the state’s early HIV intervention program. He denies knowing that giving a person with a history of drug abuse an addictive substance that interferes with thinking might make doctors less likely to tranplant a patient.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gregg Stropoli on -
Tough call.....
i think if he grows what he can use legally as prescribed by a doctor its ok. If he "manufactures" it, the cops have a societal duty to enforce the law. As far as being neglected for a transplant; if the recipient passes psychological tests as everyone else does; he deserves the kidney. These organs are too precious to be given to a lost cause; severe as that sounds it is necessary to insure less suffering for other needy people waiting.
Gregg
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Permalink Reply by John T. Schaeufele on -
Gustavo,
I cry when anyone dies for want of an life saving organ transplant. If statistic s hold true, 18 human beings will die today because of such want. The sad fact, with 96,000 on the waiting list there is more demand for this precious resource than supply. Therefore, someone is left with the decision of how to distribute this dear resource. Judgment, whether accurate or inaccurate, have to be made by someone. This leaves transplant surgeons, transplant committees or ethics committees the unenviable task of making these heart retching life or death decisions.
The real solution to this problem is to find at least five more donors per day and assuring each donor‘s gift is fully utilized with the deployment of every organ gifted. This requires the public to understand the urgency of this need to become an organ donor and hospitals willingness to identify all potential donors to their regional organ procurement organization, and the procurement organizations ability to maximize the use of every donor
John Schaeufele
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Permalink Reply by Kelly Rayman on -
I came very close to being one of those patients. 6 months prior to my transplant, I started going to NA (Narcotics Annonymous). I got clean right away as this program was what I needed in my life. Besides stoping 28 years of daily marijuana use, I was also able to stop smoking cigarettes.
One of the nuns who is on the transplant board at the hospital where I received my transplant said if it wasn't for my prior commitment to quitting drugs, I would have been denied the transplant.
As an addict, I can understand the position of all involved. If I was not willing to change my life, I would not deserve this new liver. Someone died so I could live. I have no right to destroy this gift that was given to me. While it is a harsh reality, organs are few and far between. The doctors and others who are involved have to make the best choice possible. They don't want to choose someone who will only destroy another organ, they have to choose someone who wants to do the right thing. I will be forever greatful that I chose the right path before they had to make the decision to let me live or die.
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