Brigham and Women's won't give man a heart transplant because he won't get Covid-19 shots

Throwin’ it back to the principles of principals in elementary school.

Refusing a vaccine but are A-OK with an entire organ from another human being placed in your body.

even if one thinks the covid vaccine mite be deadly; in this case, not getting the transplant will be deadly.

The whole thing is too sad to be making jokes about, but if he has kids, he's not eligible for a Darwin award.

He is a human, and you and your squad have managed to take that from him.

Horseshit. How on earth can anything, much less comments on a website he'll never see, take his humanity from him?

You are hysterical.

Surely that must include any who helped this misguided human convince himself that this gravely destructive path was the one they should firmly set his sights on, in light of compelling arguments and evidence to the contrary.

If he dies from not getting the transplant from not getting the vaccine, then he's the one taking his humanity away from himself. Not anyone here.

This isn't an airport. You don't have to announce your departure.

In the case of cigarettes and other drugs where there's chemical addiction it makes some sense why someone would be restive to giving it up even if it's the wrong choice and extremely hurtful to those around them.

In the case of vaccine deniers there's not even that chemical connection. It's a religion, a holy war they are willing to risk death for. But there's not even the promise of bliss in the afterlife or a better life for their progeny. The only thing you get is smug satisfaction you're part of some club with no benefits.

It really is baffling that someone can fall into that mental state -- to be willing to sacrifice themselves for television personalities who offer nothing in return.

Jesus fucking Christ dude

that is sick and disgusting. the guy has kids. do you want them to see that someday?

Almost 40 likes; what happened to this place? Ask yourself if you've been radicalized. I'm not cheering anyone's death, but if I ever sink to that level, I'll come back and do it here.

Bye, neighbors.

Tasteless and offensive.

Is not the fault of the UH commentariat.

You talk balls, but real balls are acknowledging that answers are in the mirror.

Which doctors? It seems to me that the doctors that want to give him a heart transplant, because the one he came with doesn't work good enough anymore, have advised him to get vaccinated, among other instructions typical of those receiving organ transplants.

Negated from this story is the fact that doctors have told DJ NOT to get the vaccine due to increased risk of heart complications.

I have very strong doubts that that is the case. Do you have a credible source for your claim?

If there is a legitimate medical reason for not getting the vaccine at this time, the interdisciplinary medical team taking care of this gentleman and every other transplant patient would certainly consider it and make an exception if that is advised. This team monitors every variable of entire transplant process from just before the procedure through the exceptionally unpredictable post-transplant period and often through the patient's entire natural life. For at least three months after transplant they own every medical decision that's made for the patient. When, not if, things go squirrelly, they will use the most powerful drugs and procedures in medicine to yank a patient back onto the tracks. There is simply no disconnect between doctors' advice and transplant center vaccination policy.

If somehow there's some unlikely backstory that makes medical sense, the patient and his family need to be consulting every transplant expert in the country and having them talk to the BWH team. Not giving TV interviews, which will do nothing to change the medical facts on the ground. Public pressure and politics don't change medicine.

Absolutely agree that this patient is a human being worthy of compassion and dignity, as are his family and friends. I feel so much for them. I hope he makes the right call, gets a new heart, recovers, and spends years of miraculously uneventful time with all he loves. But there are rules and procedures that are there for extremely good reasons that protect the patient and the extremely valuable organ. He just needs to follow the rules like every other transplant patient does. And if he doesn't, he is being given the dignity of standing by his convictions. They just have consequences.

While I went through the transplant approval process, I saw way too many people who not wouldn't, but couldn't comply with what was asked of them. They were too hooked, too sick, too mentally not there, or just alone and scared. Lose-lose? The hard lives these people have lived is a series of loses, grossly tragic and grossly unfair. I try not to think about what happened to them, I can only hope for a miracle in their lives. Just like I hope for one here. But they needed the real miracle. Here that miracle is a simple choice, it seems.

The irony of the TV interview with his dad is the ending, where he says, "It's his body, his choice." It isn't his body. It's the beating heart from someone who will never see their family again, who gave a piece of their body away in a last act of selflessness and love. It's not a pill. It's a gift, a precious precious gift. Not for a specific person, but for the person with the best chance, the most worthy. You can have it, but there are strings attached. And this is such a small and sensible condition, it simply defies comprehension.

It leads to a bunch of other questions for the transplant team. Will he wear a mask as advised after transplant? Will he take his meds? Will he comply with the precautions and procedures necessary to sustain his health and his heart, or will it be "His body his choice"?

Finally, I acknowledge that we haven't heard publicly from the patient, just his family. We don't know his thoughts directly, But my family wasn't out on the news speaking out about every seeming unfair or arbitrary rule during the transplant selection process. They were doing what I needed them to do to support me.

I deeply deeply hope this story has a good ending. Fate will write it, as it always does.

"doctors have told DJ NOT to get the vaccine"

Most vets would recommend ivermectin instead, that's true.

This article says:

Ferguson says his son refuses to get the shot.

Pretty simple.

Negated from this story is the fact that doctors have told DJ NOT to get the vaccine due to increased risk of heart complications. He is in a lose-lose situation and decided to take a stand.

I'm not sure about about "taking a stand", but I would like to play devil's advocate on a point or two in that first sentence. Not as an expert on hearts, transplants, or vaccines - but as someone who had a front-row seat to watch people and their reactions.

I watched my cousin go through years of deteriorating heart health and eventually a transplant.

In his case, it was years of deterioration, pain, crisis after crisis, progressively weaker, his hospital network (in NY) couldn't do anything about it, last-ditch referrals here to Boston (Tufts). Months and years where the professionals and experts tried every medicine and adjustment before a transplant was really the last hope.
Each time they thought they might have it stabilized - the right combination of meds and tech - was really just the start of a countdown until the next crash. A shorter countdown each time, with more restrictions on activity and trying to eliminate any triggers for destabilizing his system. He was eventually confined to a nursing home for months before his transplant*.
When it's you (or your husband, or your father) that this is happening to - months and years of deterioration and trying to pare away anything "extra" for fear of the next crash - you might be just the teensiest bit leery of adding one thing extra & new to your body.
Especially "one more damn medical thing" if you're not seeing clearly how it relates to the problem at hand.
That is a normal and understandable reaction. Yes, it may not pass muster as seeing the objective reality of "rational" or "settled science" as those of us on the outside of the situation see it, but we live subjectively. Stress and history and fatigue affect how we process things. THAT is part of reality, too.