Posted on 08/13/2013 8:03:21 PM PDT by NotYourAverageDhimmi
The family of a dying 15-year-old boy says he has been added to the list for a heart transplant.
Anthony Stokes is in desperate need of a heart transplant, but doctors initially said he didn't qualify for the transplant list.
The family of the DeKalb County teen called Channel 2's Tony Thomas with the update Tuesday afternoon, three days after the story aired on Channel 2 Action News.
Stokes is receiving treatment at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.
Doctors told his family that Anthony has less than six months to live, but he couldn't be put on the transplant list because of a history of non-compliance.
"They said they don't have any evidence that he would take his medicine or that he would go to his follow-ups," said Melencia Hamilton, Anthony's mother.
Hamilton told Thomas that the transplant is the only fix for her son's enlarged heart.
Keepers of the nation's transplant list have strict guidelines about who qualifies, and while doctors didn't specify the reason, family friends told Thomas they've been told it's partly because Anthony has had low grades and trouble with the law.
"The non-compliance is fabricating, because they don't want to give him a heart," family friend Mack Major told Thomas. "This is unacceptable because he must lose his life because of a non-compliance."
"They've given him a death sentence," said Christine Young Brown, president of the Newton Rockdale County SCLC.
In a statement this weekend, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta spokeswoman Patty Gregory said in a statement, "The well-being of our patients is always our first priority. We are continuing to work with this family and looking at all options regarding this patient's health care. We follow very specific criteria in determining eligibility for a transplant of any kind."
(Excerpt) Read more at m.wsbtv.com ...
Death panels give organs only to the worthy patients.
The boy has exhibited a history of rebellion against school and his parents. What makes you think that he will become a choirboy and take his meds promptly once he gets a new heart?
Who should qualify?
The person who is the best match for the Donor Heart. The one most likely to survive without the Organ being rejected.
Are we building Space Shuttles here?
shoould be “is”
not “was”
For a definition compliant with good standing for a transplant please see: illegal alien
Dont you think a validictorian illegal alien should be more entitled to a new heart than an American who is not ???
You can't label a 15year-old non-compliant. Especially one that has a life threatening illness. This makes me sick, for so many reasons, on so many levels.
Although, I don’t like any bureaucrat deciding who should get a heart.
The kid’s behaviour of not taking his meds and doing follow up make him a poor candidate, regardless of whatever other qualities that he has that favours him.
We cannot allow transplant lists, based on medical criteria, get trumped by publicity. Organs then go to the most photogenic, sympathetic or well-promoted case, instead of the best fit.
Like the little girl whose family begged for lungs; she then had to receive a second set within a week. Two people could have lived with those organs. Lists and medical reviewers were created to make these decisions on medical criteria to maximize the number of lives saved. Which is totally different from death panels, where Obamacare essentially rations care and sends the elderly home to die.
You can’t label a 15year-old non-compliant. Especially one that has a life threatening illness. This makes me sick, for so many reasons, on so many levels.
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Of course you can. A heart transplant is not a way of getting better. It is a way of trading a fatal disease for a chronic one like diabetes. And if you do not comply with your meds you will die. Compliance is one of the evaluations used before any large procedure. Not all people who could use cardiac bypasses get them, just those who will cooperate with the treatment and post surgical routine.
an angry uncooperative teen? Not the best candidate. Too bad he was poorly socialized.
For this kid to get a tx would be a monumental waste. He knew the rules on the front end, and so did his mother. If he doesn’t take the rejection meds, he is going to die anyway.
“Rewind”
Most likely his current condition is the result of his failure to be compliant with his medical care instructions and may also be due in part to whatever it was that he was "in trouble with the law" about.
I found this quote on a medical site:
"The consumption of alcohol, cocaine, and crack, may cause cardiomegaly. This is because the intake of these substances affects the cardiovascular system of the body, putting one under the risk of problems like arrhythmia and high blood pressure. Both these conditions cause an increase in the size of the heart."
Somebody will have to give up their own life to give this guy a new heart. Someone else will die if he gets it. Maybe some sweet 11 year old girl will die because this kid got a heart that would otherwise have gone to her.
I'm sure if we all knew the whole story we would better understand why this kid is not eligible to be on the list. Most likely if we knew, we'd probably agree.
Bureaucrats don’t decide who gets transplanted. A panel of doctors make that decision.
US citizens
Thank you. You get it. Most people operate on emotions, not facts.
No, you can't. That's just my opinion. At fifteen it is the parents who are responsible for compliance. You can't say on one hand that a 15 year old shouldn't be tried as an adult for a crime, but then use adult criteria for a heart transplant.
I've seen plenty of adults not comply with therapy, and it's a major problem, but i feel strongly that it is imperative we treat children differently - and at fifteen you're still a child. Also, at fifteen it is highly unlikely that the reason you need a heart transplant is behavior related. Yes, there could be some 15 year olds who mess up their hearts with cocaine, but more likely at that age they have either an inherited or an acquired cardiomyopathy that has nothing to do with their personal decisions in life.
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