Man Dies After Being Denied a Liver Transplant For Using Medical Marijuana
Rest in peace, Timothy Garon. I'm not making it up, this really happened:
SEATTLE (AP) — A man who was denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana with medical approval to ease the symptoms of hepatitis C has died.
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His death came a week after his doctor told him a University of Washington Medical Center committee had again denied him a spot on the liver transplant list because of his use of marijuana, although it was authorized under Washington state law.
They let him die. They let him die because he took his doctor's advice and used medical marijuana to treat his hepatitis C.
Here's what the Washington Post, a reputable news source, said about marijuana and hepatitis C. This is from 2006, a long enough time ago to make policy changes:
Marijuana can improve the effectiveness of drug therapy for hepatitis C, a potentially deadly viral infection that affects more than 3 million Americans, a study has found. The work adds to a growing literature supporting the notion that in some circumstances pot can offer medical benefits.
So marijuana is effective in treating hepatitis C, unless of course, the fact that you used marijuana is held up as an excuse to deny you a liver transplant, in which case using marijuana will get you killed. If what they did to Timothy Garon doesn't qualify as medical malpractice, then it's time to rewrite the rules.
Looking for the easiest way to join the anti-drug war movement? You've found it!
Disgusting...
Another travesty of justice caught in the web of policy..
How can this happen, how can the doctors and policy makers sleep at night, look in the mirror, or think of themselves as people of integrity and healing?
To your family, I cannot send enough support and love. Please know that not everyone is callous and ignorant.
Blessings of Love & Light,
Robyn
RIP
SO, Pres. Bush & Oboma can't get a transplant? They should have to die too.............Sorry For The Lost.
APPALLING
I guess we are just a bunch of barbarians, for the most part.
Some of the worst crimes against medical marijuana patients are committed by excruciatingly ignorant and cruel physicians ("What do you call a doctor who finished last in medical school and enjoys withholding needed organs from dying people?"), many of whom refuse to do any further study on medical marijuana and hold beliefs about marijuana as medicine that many teenagers know are not based in fact.
If our national mainstream media covered medical marijuana responsibly, it would be a no-brainer and politicians would not be able to get away with perpetuating this very real war on their people. And doctors would not be able to get away with such egregious violations of their Hippocratic Oath (did the docs recently get rid of this "sentiment?")
Remember how the non-athletic, frail students used to get picked on in gym class in junior high and high school? Same thing going on here, just much uglier, as people are dying.
So Sorry for this travesty.
So Sorry for this travesty. I'm sure Timothy would have agreed to not smoking if given the chance. It is so sad that we have digressed to a culture that just doesn't care. We have huge morality issues, and our technology has indeed exceeded our humanity. I believe we are in deep doo doo.
I only hope Timothy is at peace and realizes a beneficial rebirth. For all those that will miss Timothy I am sorry for your loss. I am so bewildered by our direction as a global community and the values we accept. In the news today I read how China is taking land from rice farmers to plant rubber trees, and on the next page I read about our food crisis.. Beam me up Scotty
This is truly disgusting
And completely inexcusable. The people who made this decision should have their medical licenses revoked.
Slog has had several good posts on this case: http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/first_do_no_harm
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