Um.

Last night.

KN writes:

What have we become?

‘Running out of time’ – father denied heart transplant because he won’t get Covid vaccine (Independent.ie)

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19 thoughts on “A Good Heart

  1. Mr.T

    Given recent studies re: effectiveness of natural immunity vs vaccine immunity, he should be tested for antibodies to determine if he had a prior infection. If so, he is a lower risk profile than someone who had the vaccine and should absolutely be allowed the transplant.

    1. bisted

      …I agree…surely testing for antibodies is definitive and surely the way to do it is by blood test…regular blood tests are an occupational hazard for elite athletes…but not for tennis players?

  2. Rob

    Do they have similar requirements for other risks? For example, do they give people who continue to smoke lung transplants, or do they prioritise those who give up? Heavy drinkers for livers etc?

    1. paval

      Alcoholics typically have to demonstrate they have been sober for sometime before they will get a liver transplant, otherwise the risk is they will continue drinking and damage the transplant. Similar with smokers.

  3. Gavin

    If you need a new heart, the covid jab is the least of your worries. The HSE has a process for this if you don’t want to follow it that’s your lookout, they have to do everything to make sure the heart goes to someone who has done everything to ensure they will get the benefit of someone else’s heart. I certainly hope they do the same for smokers and lung transplants, as that would be a double standard

    1. The Millie Obnoxious™

      That’s true, I believe.

      I know from a friend who received a lung transplant about 10 years ago that there is a very strict process to need to go through to be on the list for transplant, which must be maintained as much as possible. It’s an odd one because you need to be sick enough to warrant the transplant and yet well enough to physically survive the procedure and recovery.

  4. The Millie Obnoxious™

    What exactly are we supposed to be outraged about here?

    After a transplant, immunosuppressants are usually required, leaving the patient vulnerable to infection. Covid poses a much higher risk to such people, and taking the vaccine reduces that risk, leaving the transplant recipient at less risk of another serious illness or side effect, or even death, and therefore not wasting such a valuable opportunity as an organ transplant.

    1. Gavin

      Its a no-brainer, you’re in the high-risk category, and youre taking a donor’s heart, gett jabbed.

  5. Micko

    As far as I’m aware there’s a whole host of vaccines you need to have to get a transplant. So the Covid vax is no different. It’s just a medical requirement.

    What I think is more interesting is the Indo knows this. It’s a non story.

    So who exactly are they trying to trigger here with this article?

    And it’s not just the Indo. Do a search there for “heart transplant Covid” and see how many media outlets have covered this. There’s tons. From The Guardian to Fox News – left and right covered.

    I’m really tired of the media messin with all of us…

    1. f_lawless

      Speaking of which, this one really takes the biscuit from The (UK) Independent today:
      https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/antivax-covid-szilveszter-csollany-hungary-b2000002.html

      Headline reads: ‘Anti-vax Olympic gold medalist Szilveszter Csollany dies of Covid, aged 51’
      According to the so called 80/20 rule for headlines, a majority will see the headline without reading the article. It’s clear what the intended takeaway from the above title is: person didn’t get the Covid vaccine because of his ‘anti-vax’ views, then contracted Covid and died.

      But for those who read the article, it becomes clear that the opposite is true: he did in fact, take the injection in order to be allowed continue to work and was hospitalised soon after with severe Covid symptoms.

      Various medical experts have been sounding the alarm for over a year that (a) administering the injection to people who have an undetected Covid infection can cause a cataclysmic reaction and also that (b) the 2-3 week period directly after receiving the injection can often leave people in a state of immunosuppression thereby putting themselves at higher risk of falling foul to Covid if exposed to it during that period. Given the timeline in this story, it’s a very real possibility that the injection caused him to have more severe symptoms than he otherwise would have had.

      However, these considerations are not taken into account by The Independent where it seems any criticism of the Covid vaccines is not permitted. The only explanation they put forward is that he hadn’t yet “built sufficient levels of antibodies” from the injection.

  6. ANO

    The cold logic behind transplant lists is just that because it has to be.

    I feel for the patient and even moreso for his poor family but this is a decision that has to be informed by brutal fact.

    If he refuses to meet the criteria for a transplant then that’s his choice but there are obvious consequences to that.

    1. ANO

      I don’t think that’s fair.

      It’s all too easy to slip, slide down the conspiracy theory slope. We need to show these people compassion and understanding while at the same time trying to convince them that they’ve been misled.

      Hopefully his family is trying to help him behind closed doors.

  7. White Dove

    I don’t think someone’s life should depend on a broad-brush ‘unvaccinated are more likely to die’ approach, particularly when so few (any?) unvaccinated people have died from omicron in Ireland despite the rate of infection.

    These tweeters seem to want this poor fellow to die to validate their own moral policy. I’m glad they’re just the crazy aunts at the wedding as far as actual power is concerned. I hope those with the power wake up and realise the implications of the above policy before legal action ensues.

    1. Cú Chulainn

      Medical care White Dove, a tight rope walk held up by least worst option and potential best out come..

  8. George

    This is in the US. They regularly refuse transplants to people who don’t follow medical advice due to a limited supply of donors. The man who recently received a pig heart transplant was in that situation and was going to die as result. It is a bit crazy but so is American healthcare generally.

Comments are closed.

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