Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
There is a story in the news today about a woman who needs a kidney transplant. She has a friend who will provide the kidney, but the hospital will not perform the surgery unless both women get the COVID vaccine. They both refuse to get the vaccine because of their religion, so the woman is prepared to die because she cannot get the surgery. I am not an expert on religion or medicine, but, apparently the woman's religion will allow her to undergo major surgery, involving multiple drugs and medical intervention, to remove her kidney and replace it with another person's kidney, and then take anti-rejection drugs forever. But, the religion will not allow her to be vaccinated for the COVID virus. Can someone please explain how this makes any sense?
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"Can someone please explain how this makes any sense?"
Not knowing anything more about this story than what I've read here, it is possible that the hospital in question is taking this road because of the increased risk of getting an infectious disease while in the hospital. Probably more dangerous to the recipient than to the donor (transplants, as I understand it, involve suppressing the recipient's immune system, which makes catching other diseases much more likely) so it is understandable from that perspective.
However unless the hospital sticks to the same rule during, say, the height of flu season, the donor and recipient in this case might have grounds for some kind of action against the hospital, especially if they could show that the hospital respected religious beliefs in other similar situations. The 1st Amendment would come into play if the hospital accepts any kind of government funding including Medicare payments.