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| Should MMJ Be a Factor in Transplant Decisions? |
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Posted by CN Staff on May 02, 2008 at 19:42:41 PT P-I Staff and News Services Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer 
Seattle, WA -- The death this week of a musician who was three times denied a liver transplant highlights a new ethical concern: When dying patients need a transplant, should it be held against them if they've used marijuana with a doctor's blessing?Timothy Garon, 56, died Thursday at Bailey-Boushay House. He was the lead singer for Nearly Dan, a Steely Dan cover-band. His lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, said that although no one told him why Garon was turned down for a transplant, he suspects it was because he used marijuana with medical approval, as allowed under state law, to ease the symptoms of advanced hepatitis C. Garon died a week after a University of Washington Medical Center committee had for the second time denied him a spot on the liver transplant list. Harborview Medical Center previously turned him down. No reasons were given for the denials, Hiatt said. Harborview said he would be considered if he avoided pot for six months, and the UW Medical Center offered to reconsider if he enrolled in a 60-day drug treatment program, but doctors said his liver disease was too advanced for him to last that long, Hiatt said. The university hospital committee agreed to reconsider anyway, then denied him again. "When a doctor authorizes medical marijuana, it's like a prescription," Hiatt said. "Telling a dying guy in his shape to wait 60 days is insulting and sickening in my opinion." Medical officials around the country have been wrestling with the issue. "Most transplant centers struggle with issues of how to deal with people who are known to use marijuana, whether or not it's with a doctor's prescription," said Dr. Robert Sade, director of the Institute of Human Values in Health Care at the Medical University of South Carolina. "Marijuana, unlike alcohol, has no direct effect on the liver. It is however a concern ... in that it's a potential indicator of an addictive personality." Snipped Complete Article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/361630_marijuana03.html Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) Related Articles: MMJ User Dies for Lack of Liver Transplant Medical Marijuana Mix-Up Marijuana Patients Face Transplant Hurdles Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #3 posted by afterburner on May 02, 2008 at 23:19:29 PT |
| "Most transplant centers struggle with issues of how to deal with people who are known to use marijuana, whether or not it's with a doctor's prescription," said Dr. Robert Sade, director of the Institute of Human Values in Health Care at the Medical University of South Carolina. "Marijuana, unlike alcohol, has no direct effect on the liver. It is however a concern ... in that it's a potential indicator of an addictive personality." Dr. Robert Sade is a Sade-ist. And as someone pointed out in another thread, a patient taking medical cannabis according to a doctor's recommendation is *not* an "indicator of an addictive personality." So is this Dr. Sade-ist a teetotaler; no coffee, no tea, no tobacco, no alcohol, no chocolate, no opiated pain killers, no active ingredient wonder pills from Big Pharma? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by The GCW on May 02, 2008 at 23:15:01 PT |
| Garon wasn't just simply denied because He used marijuana, the devil weed. He was denied because He used the plant cannabis, known as kaneh bosm which many people know and believe is the tree of life. Garon was denied because He used the tree of life, which We're told on the very last page of the Bible ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=73&chapter=22&version=49 ) is for the healing of the nations. Garon was denied because He used what God gave Him to help Him heal. The Lord giveth the tree of life and the devil taketh away. -For now. But this is a game still in progress and the house always wins; and this is God's house. God is not a loser but the devil is. Cannabis prohibitionists are losers. -0- 1 Timothy 4 Apostasy 1But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=61&chapter=4&version=49 [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 02, 2008 at 19:57:36 PT |
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Is death the price of inaction? Wednesday, April 30, 2008 URL: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/apr/30/pot-costs-man-shot-at-a-liver/ [ Post Comment ] |
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