Is it ethical to give transplants to unvaccinated?

Forums: Organ Transplants, Unvaccinated, Medical Ethics, Ethics
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About one in every ten lung transplants are now being given to Covid patients who chose not to be vaccinated.

Organs are a scarce resource..

Would it be less than ethical for transplant hospitals and clinics to consider what effect their choices had on their present dire health?

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/28/1058988220/once-rare-lung-transplants-for-covid-19-patients-are-rising-quickly

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Type: Question • Score: 9 • Views: 4,612 • Replies: 45

Waiting for max to storm in with his outrage.

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I don’t know if it’s ethical or not but I did read an article that some hospitals are not giving transplants to the unvaccinated.

This reminds me, the very first person I knew that passed away from COVID was a 77 year old neighbor that lived down the street from us when we lived in Florida. His Obit says they lived in Tampa but it was Saint Petersburg. He and his wife moved out of Florida but we still kept in touch through facebook. He received a bone marrow transplant for a form of leukemia. His wife posted he tested positive and two days later he was in the hospital, two days after that he passed away. Carlton and Livia Theodoli, good people. Crying or Very sad

And to note Carleton got COVID before the vaccine was available.

Lexington artist, gallery owner dies of coronavirus. His last work? ‘Guardian Angels.

Quote:

Carleton Wing, a prolific Lexington multimedia artist and gallery owner with a sharp wit, sly humor and a command of an array of techniques and materials, died Thursday morning of complications from the coronavirus. He was 77. Wing had announced last week on Facebook that he had tested positive for the virus. His wife, Livia Theodoli-Wing, said he died at the University of Kentucky Hospital, where he had been receiving treatment since Saturday.

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Yes, I think it's unethical to not provide health care to anyone who needs it, but given the number who have already been denied health care due to hospital overrun of unvaccinated patients I don't think they should get preferential treatment (i.e. lung transplants) over those already waiting.

Waiting for max to show up with his outrage.

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There was a similar outcry when footballing legend got a liver transplant although he was still drinking.

He lived just over three years after the operation.

I don't know what the moral to that is, he did get another three years of life, but somebody else, who was not an alcoholic, would probably have lived a lot longer.

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@Mame,

Well, I'm outraged!

What were we talking about, again?

1 Reply

@roger,

Roger, I appreciate the levity. This is such a heavy topic. I, frankly speaking, don’t know where I weigh in on the subject. Moreover, I don’t know who should be in charge of who receives transplants. Who should be on the “God squad”?

1 Reply

@Ragman,

In this sort of a case, maybe it should be down to who has waited the longest and who has the best chance of recovery and continuing lift. Tough question. Trust snood for that Smile

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

Sorry, I never gave his name.

It was George Best, one of the greatest footballers of his era, but a chronic alcoholic.

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If you believe that transplants should be given based on those that seem the most worthy or more likely to live longer then I can see the premise that those unvaccinated should not get a transplant.

However if you feel otherwise then this should have no determination on who should have priority on a transplant list.

It could become a slippery slope if we start deciding who is more worthy...is a child more worthy as he has his whole future a head of him or is someone else more worthy because they have spent their life helping others.

Do you stop all transplants for those over 65?

Do you deny overweight people, those with mental illness? This opens a whole can of worms.

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@Linkat,

Yeah, it does open up a can of worms. I think doctors already triage care and nurses and doctors triage at the ER. I know when I took my Level 3 First Aid, we were taught triaging, ie. if you have a bleeding victim and a heart attack victim, deal with the heart attack last.

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@Mame,

Mame wrote:

Yeah, it does open up a can of worms. I think doctors already triage care and nurses and doctors triage at the ER. I know when I took my Level 3 First Aid, we were taught triaging, ie. if you have a bleeding victim and a heart attack victim, deal with the heart attack last.

Yes and they do this without finding out who is likely to have a longer life or who is a better person.

1 Reply

@Linkat,

True. But the heart attack victim is more difficult to deal with and often doesn't succeed (how often do you have an AED with you?) and you can easily treat bleeding.

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@Mame,

Quote:

Waiting for max to storm in with his outrage.

At least it'll be puerile and illogical as he demonstrates his misunderstanding of constitutional rights.

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@izzythepush,

There was outrage here over Mickey Mantle getting a liver transplant while still drinking.

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@Mame,

It's not a tough question. It's called triage. They do it everyday. There's seven livers, ten patients in need - three not vaxxed. Those three are at the back of the line until the the other 7 are vetted.

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@Linkat,

That's already being done due to the lack of organs and the higher amount of patients.

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My urologist, an USAF Major General will not treat bladder cancer patients whose spouses smoke, because bladder cancer is a second hand smoke and smoker's cancer.

If one shows a tendency to use behaviors that undo a surgeons work, why do the work to have it undone by a patient who will not follow the best medical advice in a pandemic; for treatment that doesn't begin to have the seriousness of a lung transplant.

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@snood,

If someone who got a shot, there isnt a vaccine, gets sick should they be denied a transplant?

0 Replies

@snood,

In the spirit of your wonderful idea should fat people be denied heart transplants as well as many other treatments they need because they decided to be fat?

1 Reply

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