I am so glad she’s getting a chance. But I still have some large problems with the bigger picture here. First, why is the federal government involved AT ALL in this decision? Why is it the HHS secretary’s call in the first place? I don’t like the idea of us begging for mercy from the HHS secretary no matter what party is in control. Why is this not a state decision?
I agree with you. At this point I hope after the ten day stay the people who run the registry are able to either re-affirm or change the rules regarding adult transplant organs and children under 12. I also hope they are able to back up their decision with sound medical reasoning.
The idea of a cabinet level bureaucrat deciding how organs are distributed among the needy chills me to the bone, and I am flabbergasted that so many in the country run on pure emotion without using their brains to see the big picture.
Commerce clause of the US Constitution. The organ network is national and the organ could come from anywhere in the network. A state network would be limited to in-state donors. I don't think an unregulated market in human organs is a good idea. Since it needs to be regulated and it's national in scope, it is run by a private non-profit that contracts with HHS. HHS and the courts are involved because the parents didn't want to accept the decisions of the Orgon Procurement and Transplant Network and went over their heads, so to speak. Sebelius made the right call to not get involved in an individual case, IMO. The judge should have made the same decision. What's going to happen in the 10 day restraining period? What happens if the OPTN appeals and tells the higher court that the criteria is medically sound and that the lower court should mind its own non-medical business and not make judgments outside of its paygrade? If the OPTN has to spend too much time and money on lawyers, then it interferes with their mission to maximize lifesaving transplants. Eventually, they will quietly require listees sign a legal waiver of rights to sue in order to get on the OPTN list to prevent this from happening again. So many act like the government is denying her medical care. Seriously, nobody has a right to a human organ (other than their own). This thread is all emotions and not much logic. Our country has gone insane.