What is Digg?389 Comments
- rollintruth, on 05/02/2008, -14/+216This is shocking to the conscience. They don't deny transplants to patients for using morphine, or oxycontin. This man was sentenced to death by doctors making a political determination, not a legitimate medical decision, and his blood is on their hands.
- agnosticbeaver, on 05/02/2008, -12/+114Shame on the UW. What an arrogant and malevolent decision. You'd expect them to at least defend themselves and their decision on this which they don't. Apparently they are accountable to noone? RIP Mr. Garon.
- Digger1218, on 05/02/2008, -7/+86Ridiculous that Marijuana was used as the reason.
However, wouldn't the nature of Hep C just mean that the new liver would be destroyed as well by the illness? If that is the case (correct me if I'm wrong) then wouldn't the transplant be only a stop-gap measure in his case while it would be a long term solution in another patient with a correctable illness? - bmorris, on 05/02/2008, -15/+77Contact your member of Congress and tell him or her that changing federal law would prevent this from happening again. You can send a letter at this address: https://secure2.convio.net/mpp/site/Advocacy?JServ ...
Or, call the congressional switchboard and ask for your reps office. (202)225-3121 - bromac, on 05/02/2008, -10/+68For SHAME!
He follows doctors advice and uses medical marijuana and dies for it. This is disgusting. - BobSconce, on 05/02/2008, -15/+63That liver was used to save somebody else's life. It's not like the doctors took a perfectly good liver away from the guy and threw it in the trash because the patient smoked some week.
The entire process of determining who gets an organ and who doesn't is based on many factors. This liver, presumably, went to somebody who, was almost exactly as qualified as this guy, but who didn't smoke weed. If the decision had gone the other way, that guy would have died. - MightyE, on 05/02/2008, -4/+44I know the article claims he was denied because he legitimately used medical marijuana, but I don't really believe it.
Having Hepatitis C will prevent you from receiving a liver transplant in almost all cases - unless the liver cannot be delivered to another candidate in time. There's some theory that Hep C may be cured with a liver transplant, and it has proven true in a very small handful of patients. But in the vast majority of patients, Hepatitis reoccurs shortly after the transplant. It extends this person's life by a few months, and in exchange, someone else to whom the liver may have gone to instead will not have their life extended by 30 or 40 years.
It's a matter of perspective, the organ has to go to the person who has the best chance of making the most use out of it. Hep C patients are far down the list. - str1fe, on 05/02/2008, -14/+50Dear ignorant Americans (not all of them, just the ignorant ones),
Marijuana is not a bad drug. Do some real research for the first time in your lives since high school.
That is all.
Signed, the rest of us. - dafragsta, on 05/02/2008, -4/+39Yet Mickey Mantle pickled his liver with booze and still got a donor.
- trentonadams, on 05/02/2008, -3/+33You're exactly right! The article said he was denied due to Marijuana use, but I suspect we aren't hearing all the facts.
- Iccanui, on 05/02/2008, -4/+29Wether you like marijuana or not, isnt time that some REAL medical research was done to find out the facts? Do we really need all these none violent offenders in jail? How well did alcohol prohibition work out and how easy is it to control now that its legal again. More importantly, isnt it fair for each state to decide a law like this and not have the federal government enforcing laws that differ then local governement? Isnt this a democracy? And to top it off it is a cash crop and one that could be taxed for thise that choose to consume it for medical or recreational purposes. We could use that money right now in todays economy and use the cost savings of housing none violent criminals and the policing efforts it costs to wrangle them in.
It just doesnt make sense anymore. - Jazzillion, on 05/02/2008, -3/+22It depends on the severity of Hep C. Hep C can be entirely obsolete in the blood stream with the modern treatment Pegasus and others. Once there is zero level of detection, a transplant can be preformed successfully with no adverse effects on the new liver. Hep C has been proven to be curable, but there is actual liver damage associated the virus's long term attack on the liver, hence the necessity of a transplant. It's a nasty bug.
My father just had a liver transplant successfully due to Hep C, but now is in a great deal of debt and couldn't work for 2 years because the Hep C treatment is basically tons of steroids and the side effects are horrible. Medical marijuana would have helped his case soo much, but they threatened to pull him off the list if he used it to help his condition and side effects. Instead they prescribed him Oxycotin. hypocrisy, we're drowning it - pegothejerk, on 05/02/2008, -11/+29Last line: "In recent years, he said, pot was been the only drug he used. " - anyone need a job as a proof reader at the AP?
- DrDigg, on 05/02/2008, -3/+20positive. I am a GI/Liver doctor. I have taken care of a few hundred transplant patients in my training. They transplant hep C all the time.
Here are some sources if you need them. Not sure why I'm getting dugg down.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/523521
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/3 ... - DrDigg, on 05/02/2008, -0/+17I blame the doctor who told him to smoke pot. Any doctor worth anything knows that that will get you kicked of most transplant lists.
- DrDigg, on 05/02/2008, -1/+16As someone who has participated on these panels before I think I can provide a little insight (opposed to 95% of the tech stories which I am a passive observer).
These panels are made up of about 20 or more people. The panels include social workers, psychologists (and addiction specialists), doctors, nurses, and case managers. These people all meet with the patient and their family on several occasions. They then meet together and discuss the patients suitability for transplant. Since there is a limited supply of organs (most people will die on the list without getting a transplant) they have to pick the people who will do the best with the transplanted organ. During these meetings they take into account multiple medical and non-medical factors. This is not a job that these medical professions take lightly. I have seen similar issues come up before. What they typically will do is tell the patient to stop smoking THC and if he or she is compliant they will list them in a few months. If they do not follow the committees recommendations (even not THC related stuff) they show that they have issues with compliance. People who have poor compliance have the worst outcomes.
P.S. They will reject people for smoking cigarettes too. This is because they do worse after surgery (vascular complications). - Gutterpunk, on 05/02/2008, -5/+19If smoking prescribed pot is a reason to refuse you, who know what else is, and thats the point of the outrage over this. The pot was prescribed. You wouldn't have heard about it if he was just a recreational smoker who got caught.
So please stop spouting that ridiculous argument. The point here is not that he was a pothead, but that he was an individual under prescribed medication, and got refused for it - DrDigg, on 05/02/2008, -2/+15You are correct. The liver damage is actually accelared in the new liver. That being said Hep C is (or is quickly becoming) the number 1 indication for transplant. After the transplant they will try and clear the infection. Usually they will only transplant you once. If your new liver goes (usually in 5 years or so with hep C) they won't re-transplant you.
So if they had transplanted him he could have had several years and attempts at clearing the virus. - Kyrgizion, on 05/02/2008, -7/+20I'm sure they will care a lot when driving home in their $100.000 SUVs to their gigantic seaside mansions paid for by the drug companies that employ them.
- ncsumetalhead, on 05/02/2008, -6/+18another sad day. our drug policy and those who police it are ignorant.
- Monk22, on 05/02/2008, -1/+13i guess being a national hero of sorts has its benefits
- Andyschism, on 05/02/2008, -1/+12HONK HONK! Here comes the Faildozer!
- jb0nd38372, on 05/02/2008, -1/+12Are you smoking something ileftfark? What kind of response is that? He was clearly pointing out a grammatical error, not trying to make a point you twit.
- Nhmarine, on 05/02/2008, -8/+18Life Lesson #247: Don't do weed, otherwise every amenity that everyone else gets to enjoy will be denied to you....
What the hell? - basevillin, on 05/02/2008, -7/+17Buried. While it's unfortunate that he died, can you imagine the converse? (example, mind you.) Father of three dies of liver failure because he was unable to get a donor liver in time, while a man who contracted Hepatitis C through drug use gets another few months to smoke Marijuana.
- MrZaiko, on 05/02/2008, -0/+10Just compare smoking the whole stash on purpose Vs taking the whole bottle of prescription pills on purpose.
This country is a Ship of fools - noseeme, on 05/02/2008, -0/+10Somehow, you made Mickey Mantle's liver sound extremely delicious.
- inactive, on 05/02/2008, -1/+11One hundred dolars isn't that much...
- DrDigg, on 05/02/2008, -5/+14No, they transplant Hep C quite a bit. It doesn't cure the disease at all. It allows you to be treated for hep c and gives you a few years. But in the US we transplant for hep C a lot.
- phillydrifter, on 05/02/2008, -3/+12This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last time, this thing happens. victims.drugwarrant.com also feel free to google "Jonathan Magbie" if you don't know his story, he was a paraplegic *left that way since childhood because he was a passenger in a car struck by a drunk driver!* Against even the wishes of the prosecution after being arrested with a joint, the bitch judge sentenced him to 10 days in jail, where he choked on his own vomit and died because the jail was not equipped with the medical equipment he needed to survive.
- Abomonog, on 05/02/2008, -3/+12Thou must obey the law at all costs. Even unto thy death.
The "Land of the Free" for you. - compdude32, on 05/02/2008, -4/+12Exactly, this whole article is nothing more than pro-legalization propaganda, the guy had Hep C, he would have been last on any donor list for that fact, not that he smoked weed.
- xenuxenuts, on 05/02/2008, -0/+8he's not my hero.
- IMTheNachoMan, on 05/02/2008, -4/+12I find nothing wrong with smoking pot but I can understand why he was denied. He smoked MJ because he got Hep C by sharing needles and doing other drugs as a kid. I am in no way saying he got what he deserved but say you have two people who both need a liver. One used to be a drug addict, now he is clean but he needs the liver because of the bad decisions he consciously made. The other is an honest person who has never done anything wrong in his life and has a birth defect that he had no control over and now he needs a liver. Who do you give the liver too? It's not like there is an excess of livers. Sure what I say makes me sound like an ***** but there needs to be a certain level of practicalness when dealing with issues like this. Fact of the matter remains he was in a situation because of a bad decision he made and he paid the price for it. Call me all the names you want but if you were on the board of committees to decide who gets the liver, I am sure you would vote the same way.
- inactive, on 05/02/2008, -5/+13SOMEBODY ELSE ended up with the liver and is probably going to make it longer than he would have with it. Oh wait. ROLLINtruth. I see.
btw, i smoke weed and am actually high now. This isn't the situation half of you guys want it to be. - blechler, on 05/02/2008, -2/+10I know more than a few university profs who smoke on a regular basis. I don't think they are collecting welfare. Juswt who are you anyway to tell people that they can't smoke a plant and then sit down and eat some pizza while watching a movie. Perhaps going to a bar, getting drunk, and getting in a fight is a better solution for society. Redneck.
- Gutterpunk, on 05/02/2008, -1/+9FTA : "Because the study was observational, it's not clear if those risk factors caused cancer."
And the article doesn't position that pot is "linked it with greatly increased risk of mouth and throat cancer" like the poster states, but that HPV 16 + and HPV 16 - are two different type of cancer because they might come from different sources (tobacco and alcohol VS oral sex and pot)
So please, take your "facts" off Digg.
/Would take oral sex and pot over alcohol and tobacco any days - youjettisonme, on 05/02/2008, -1/+9I work in a liver transplant clinic. In fact, we do deny patients liver transplants if they are using morphine or oxycontin. In fact, just about any barbuturate is going to deny or at least postpone a candidates's ability to receive an organ.
- biggyfred, on 05/02/2008, -0/+7My grandmother received a new liver in 1994 after getting Hep C in a blood transfusion in the 70's. Her liver was fried by the Hep C and she had cancer all over that sucker.
She's still alive. - BoneheadFarker, on 05/02/2008, -2/+9But how many are denied transplants because of the medication their doctor prescribed to them?
- inactive, on 05/02/2008, -0/+7Do idiots like yourself even stop to think for 2 seconds before posting this kind if gibberish?
Its their ***** JOB to decide who gets a liver. Its not like they threw it in the trash, it went to someone else. They do indeed pick who lives and who dies.
And btw anyone with Hep C is a horrible choice for a liver, they only get them if no one else is around who can.
***** moron. - Spamiclese, on 05/02/2008, -0/+7There is already vast amounts of research out there about the effects of marijuana and how it is one of the safest drugs out there. I'd suggest first going to http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/ and looking at the "Health" and "Myths and Urban Legends" section. Then do a google search for medical papers in peer reviewed journals. You will find that medicinal marijuana is good for all sorts of things from helping reduce nausea and pain in terminally ill patients to reducing the symptoms of Tourette's syndrome.
- jscozzari, on 05/02/2008, -0/+7a transplant is a stop gap in advanced cases of hep c, but..it puts them down to the level where convention hep c treatments would work. so they have a pretty good success rate of keeping them in good health after a transplant, provided they behave themselves.
yes i have seen this up close and firsthand, and actually at UW, the person i saw go thru this was at times treated like he was the salt of the earth, he had not contracted hep c through drug use and aside from drinking his share of beer while he was still in good health had led a drug and booze free life but he had tattoos and a beard so they assumed he was what they had in their heads. he actually had to submit to drug/alcohol testing during the process (there was also talk at one time of him having to go through counseling) . this is an example of some idiot sticking to the rules a bit to much. which from my experience with the liver transplant process at UW i could really see happening.
but yes, this more than likely would have saved him. - inactive, on 05/02/2008, -0/+7*****.
I bet the person who got the liver didnt have Hep C. - DrDigg, on 05/02/2008, -0/+7Good luck to your dad. Most people don't appreciate how much these people have to go through.
With pegasys cure rates are somewhere between 40-50% for the most common type of the virus in the US (genotype 1). They will transplant active hep C though and then try and treat them with there new liver. - fatdog789, on 05/02/2008, -5/+12The dude was denied BECAUSE HE HAD HEP C. The marijuana use was incidental.
- bdawg123, on 05/02/2008, -1/+8***** you. Your comment doesn't really deserve much more thought than that.
- esteskid, on 05/02/2008, -2/+9this is about personal freedom not about whether or not YOU PERSONALLY don't need those 'high grade nugs' anymore as a ***** crutch for your idiocy, plus, THERE ARE REAL USES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA FOR ***** SAKE
oh and, hippies aren't the ones abusing welfare, its all the trailerbound rednecks that think they are entitled to something because they're "REAL AMERICANS" - pauldy, on 05/02/2008, -0/+7That is the gas for a one way trip.
- Infidelcastr0, on 05/02/2008, -1/+7Yes, indeed, ***** YOU.
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