Man denied lung transplant because he smoked marijuana

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A 20 year old man was denied a double lung transplant because they found traces of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in his body.

A hospital spokeswoman said in a statement to the newspaper that "we do not transplant organs in patients with active alcohol, tobacco or illicit drug use or dependencies until these issues are addressed, as these substances are contraindicated for a transplant."

The man died recently.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-denied- ... -use-dies/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.3096603

I thought this was interesting.

Although marijuana is legal in many areas, still it can be harmful, because people view it as a drug dependency.

Sad story, couldn't find the reason such a young kid needed double lung transplants like that. They did eventually find another hospital who would do the procedure but he died because of complications. I've read before that lung transplants are incredibly difficult with high rates of rejection, I just wonder what illness caused his problems to begin with.

If he did smoke marijuana, that would be a reason not to receive a lung transplant (or a heart transplant). ANY smoking of any kind would be a reason just like you cannot drink alcohol or be a drug abuser if you expect to get a liver. I do not know why this would even be questioned.

He got pneumonia late last year.

It was so damaging that it collapsed his lungs.

As a nurse, it's obvious to you.

I guess we should expect more deaths, as marijuana legalization spreads, and more people are denied transplants.

I think this was a bad decision on the part of the hospital for several reasons.

t would be nice to know the circumstances of his being ill, but without this information I would still feel confident in saying this decision is silly:

THC stays in the system for months; so they know he smoked it, but not that he has any intention of smoking it now. The hospital seems to take the smoking of marijuana on an occasion as proof of addiction. How could he smoke after he had a lung transplant - can you imagine the smell coming out of his room. Lol - everyone would be stoned.

To me this is discriminatory. There was no evidence he intended to smoke marijuana after his transplant.

Makes me even more bothered about that post a while back about a freaking ancient old man that gets to unlimited access to organ transplants, regardless of literally being at the end of his ropes and obviously not in god health, yet a 20 year old kid is left to die because they found traces of THC in his system...guess they need to save the organs for the old.

I wonder how that conversation at the hospital went, 'you will need a lung transplant....but since we found slight traces of THC in your system we wont even try, we're just going to let you die. ' I mean I just wonder how they broke the news to him is there a good way for a hospital/medical establishment to inform someone they are just going to let them die? probably not.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 25 Apr 2017, 12:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I wonder what happens if one is an organ donor, they die and then they find trace amounts of cannabisn in that individual...does that then mean those organs cannot be used? Or does this just apply to people in need of organ transplants?

If they were worried about 'dependency', then they were worried about the anti-rejection drugs, which the patient will be taking for the rest of his miserable life.

Or, is it just politics.

Yes, that is what will happen.

Here's a story about one of my patients - he had been an IV drug user for many years and needed to have a liver transplant. He was able to stay off of them for whatever the length of time was in order to receive a liver transplant so he got one. He then became an IV drug user again and ended up dying from liver failure. He was actually shooting drugs in the bathroom when I had him because I was the one who found his needles already full of heroin and ready to go. He was crazier than a pet coon doing things back there in his room after locking me out - including doing things to his comatose roommate, but that is another story entirely.

It went the same way as the illegal alien patient I had who thought he was going to get a kidney transplant before the organ went to an American citizen.

I don't get any of you who think that this decision was wrong. You think you can just go through life and trash your own organs then demand to get someone else's and then be able to trash that organ too?! I'm an organ donor (against my Ma's wishes), but I may just change that after listening to all of this crap because I don't want any of my organs that I'm trying to take care of just so that I can live longer going to someone who is going to misuse them for their own satisfaction. An organ transplant is a privilege - not a right. Someone has to die just so someone else can live. Maybe you should all think about that for awhile.

Someday they might be able to grow organs for transplants then people can go hog wild with their damn drugs.

Yes, I know that addicts exist and yes I agree that putting an organ into a self abuser is a bad idea. You are missing my point ... there is no evidence that the kid was an addict. The only evidence was a trace of THC in his blood stream. I don't think this is enough evidence. Surely if he's abusing the drug the people caring for him would notice. There's too much info missing to make a judgment in this case.


These generalizations are harmful.

I don't think that the side effects of his medicine are any worse than the side effects of yours, particularly as his can be administered in harmless ways.

If find it particularly hypocritical of big pharma to patent the plant, while saying it is harmful.

And, somehow, dangerous analogues come out of nowhere, and do real damage to street people. That can't happen without help from a formal infrastructure.