Need an Organ? Don’t Smoke Weed!!

Timothy Garon is suffering from hepatitis C and is in urgent need of a liver transplant.

Timothy was recently refused a spot on the transplant list because of his use of marijuana.  In fact, he was even arrested for growing marijuana in December 2007.

Here are some additional details from Gene Johnson, Medical marijuana patients denied a spot on transplant list, Seattle Times, April 26, 2008:

Because of the scarcity of donated organs, transplant committees such as the one at the University of Washington Medical Center have tough standards for deciding who should get them. Does a candidate have other serious health problems? Will he religiously take anti-rejection medicines? Is there good family support? Is the candidate likely to drink or do drugs? * * *

His case poses a new ethical consideration for those allocating organs, one that could become more common as a dozen states now have medical marijuana laws: When dying patients need a transplant, should it be held against them if they’ve used dope with a doctor’s blessing?

Garon, who has been hospitalized or in hospice care for two months straight, said he turned to the university hospital after Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center told him he needed six months of abstinence. The university also denied him, but said it would reconsider if he enrolled in a 60-day drug-treatment program.

This week, at the urging of Garon’s lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, the university’s transplant team reconsidered anyway, but it stuck to its decision.

Dr. Brad Roter, the Seattle physician who authorized Garon’s pot use for nausea, abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite, said he did not know it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant.