Little Girl Denied Transplant Due to Retardation; Senior Denied Proper Medical Care Due to Alzheimer’s
“She is not eligible (for a transplant) because of her quality of life—Because of her mental delays”
These are the unbelievable words the parents of a small child heard when they met with a transplant team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The family was going to donate the needed kidney, but they have so far been denied the chance.
The story of little Amelia, a precious little girl with a mental disability who is being denied a life-saving transplant is all too common, but it is a broader issue than precious children. I heard very similar words when my father had Alzheimer’s.
My father, a decorated WWII and Korean veteran, was otherwise healthy as a horse, and used to sit out in the garden with me singing children’s songs after many of his other memories had faded away. His intellect had diminished greatly but he still enjoyed going for walks and rides, singing songs, and especially, mealtime. He was still a human being.
When he broke his hip, it was all I could do to get him any kind of treatment. Dr. Bodner at the old Donelson Hospital in Nashville, TN didn’t think he deserved treatment because he “had no quality of life.” Sure, my father was in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s, but does THAT define “quality of life” any more or less than mental retardation or a physical handicap?
It took my father three months to die a slow, painful death in the hospital, with me begging almost daily for treatment for him that came too late or not at all. It’s a slippery slope that Donelson Hospital chose to go down — and this was TWENTY YEARS AGO. Imagine how far down this slope the medical community has slid in those 2 decades while we all sat quietly by and let the Terry Schiavos, mentally challenged children and adults, as well as the elderly slip away due to medical negligence and a legal system gone terribly wrong.
My own brother has mental disabilities. I dread the day he might need ongoing hospitalization or special care. Will his “quality of life” be judged worthy enough? Will my own “quality of life” be worth medical treatment at age 70 or 80?
Do you have someone in your family with a mental or physical handicap? Do you think as you age you may lose some of your faculties? Because this could be your future should you or your loved ones become less than perfect and require medical care.
Read my father’s story at:
William A. Darden – My Father Remembered
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