“Fifteen-year-old Anthony Stokes has less than six months to live unless he receives an emergency heart transplant. But his family has been told that Anthony doesn’t qualify for the transplant list because he has a “ history of non-compliance” — partly due to his history of earning low grades and having some trouble with the law.” –Tara Culp-Ressler
Whenever patients ask to receive a heart transplant, they are evaluated for factors like age, health and how well they will co-operate with their doctors. Such screening is necessary, but it introduces an ambiguity into the process that makes it hard to distinguish discernment from societal stereotypes.
I would hate to make the decision of who receives a heart transplant. I can see from one side how young Anthony Stokes may not have been the best candidate. But I am haunted by the possibility that a young black kid may have been going through a hard time in his life, and before he could find himself, he was sentenced to death for having an uppity attitude.
I have to say, hearts for transplant are rare. The doctors have a responsibility to make sure that whoever gets one will comply with a detailed lifelong treatment plan to maintain the heart that could have gone to someone else. This normally involves a daily schedule of medication to suppress the immune system, in my understanding. People who have a way of getting incarcerated cut themselves off from their daily prescribed medications. I feel sorry for this young man and I hope he can shape up, quick, and convince the doctors that he has done so.