UPDATE: On Tuesday, doctors at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta changed their mind and decided to put 15-year-old Anthony Stokes on the heart transplant waiting list.
Doctors didn’t explain why they decided to reverse their decision, but the hospital released a statement saying that “a heart transplant evaluation is an ongoing process based on the patient and his or her family’s ability to meet specific transplant criteria.”
Prior to the doctors change in heart, Stokes and his family were told that Anthony did not qualify for a heart transplant because he was non-compliant. According to ABC News, non-compliance usually means a patients is unable to follow medical directions such as taking medicine or showing up to doctor appointments.
Before she learned that doctors decided to put Anthony on the transplant list, Stokes’ mother Melencia Hamilton said “I know he will comply with all the rules. He will take his medicine because he knows that is how he has to live.”
Officials said they couldn’t comment on the specifics of Stokes’ case, but said there was some “misinformation” in the media about the case.
According to Think Progress, the family has received calls of support not just nationally, but from other countries such as Panama. Petitions also began to circulate demanding that Stokes receive his heart transplant. One in particular had more than 1,000 signatures in 24 hours.
Original article:
Fifteen-year-old Anthony Stokes is in desperate need of a heart transplant since his is enlarged and failing. Without a new heart, doctors say Stokes will die in the next three to six months. But because the 15-year-old has a history of non-compliance, doctors have refused to put Stokes on the transplant list.
Stokes has been at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in Egleston, GA since July 14. According to local news station WSB-TV, Melencia Hamilton, Stokes’ mother, said that while doctors didn’t specify why Stokes was labeled as non-compliant, the family has been told part of the reason is because Stokes has historically had low grades and has had trouble with the law.
“They said they don’t have any evidence that he would take his medicine or that he would go to his follow-ups,” Hamilton said.
According to Mariell Jessup, president of the American Heart Association, heart transplant patients can become seriously ill, and even die, if they miss just one day of medication. “It is something transplant centers take very seriously,” she said. “You have to follow a very strict regimen. Hearts are very scarce resources.”
Concerned that Stokes may be a victim of “racially-motivated skepticism,” many civil rights organizations have taken up Stokes’ case, saying “a child’s past shouldn’t have anything to do with the medical care they receive.”
The groups say that the hospital’s refusal to further explain the “non-compliance” decision is evidence that there is a larger problem in the U.S. with people being denied rights due to the color of their skin and thier criminal background status.
Christine Young Brown, a representative from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the group decided to get involved in this case because, “He’s been given a death sentence because of a broad and vague excuse of non-compliance.” She added that, “There was nothing specific in that decision. Just non-compliance.”
Mack Major is a family friend of Stokes and his mentor. He said “The non-compliance is fabrication, because they don’t want to give him a heart. This is unacceptable because he must lose his life because of a non-compliance.”
“We must save Anthony’s life. We don’t have a lot of time to do it, but it’s something that must be done.”
In response, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta spokeswoman Patty Gregory released a statement saying, “The well-being of our patients is always our first priority. We are continuing to work with this family and looking at all options regarding this patient’s health care. We follow very specific criteria in determining eligibility for a transplant of any kind.”
Gregory added she couldn’t answer questions about a specific patient’s case or divulge information about the specific criteria Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta requires for transplant patients.
According to the National Institute of Health, there are about 3,000 people in the U.S. currently waiting for a heart transplant, but only about 2,000 donor hearts are available each year.
Heart transplants are seen as a last-resort and life-saving measure for those persons who have tried other medical treatments and surgeries, but have not had success. Depending on the recipient’s blood type and health condition, wait times range from days to several months. Due to the short supply of hearts, those in need of a heart transplant go through a “careful selection process,” according to the NIH.
While there are federal laws surrounding the allocation, distribution and transplantation of donated organs, which have led to the creation of things such as a national registry for organ matching, the requirements for what qualifies a transplant patient varies from hospital to hospital. In order to increase the likelihood a person is able to get an organ donation before their health deteriorates too much, many people often put their names on multiple waiting lists.
Joel Newman is the spokesman for the nonprofit group United Network for Organ Sharing. He said hospitals look at a variety of factors when deciding whether to put a patient on a transplant waiting list, not just medical necessity.
“There are psycho-social considerations: Does the patient understand the risk, are they likely to follow medication schedules, can they keep up with appointments, can they come to the clinic for regular follow ups?” he said.
“It’s a very individual process,” he said, adding that a patient might be placed on the waiting list by one transplant center but denied at another with different criteria.
How is Stokes handling all of this? His mom says it’s been a roller coaster of both emotions and sickness since Stokes was hospitalized.
“Every day is up and down. He’s OK one minute, the next minute he’s not,” she said. “I know it’s wrong, because if they get to know him, they would love him.”
Local news reports say that Stokes may soon be released from the hospital and given medications to help manage the pain, but when he would be released is not known.