Yes, a Physician Can Refuse to Take a Patient

 

A good friend asked us to look into this story and to get the word out as to what was happening at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville. It seems the pediatric heart transplant team will not place a six-month old infant on the transplant list due to his having no vaccinations.

Here's the story in the mother's own words: Baby August

Some articles say the infant has "no spleen" or a spleen that doesn't function. That's not true according to the mother's account of her son's condition. She says he simply needs a new heart.

Some are posting this case involves the COVID vaccine, but that simply isn't true either. August has had no vaccines of any ilk since his parents ostensibly oppose them on religious grounds. This "fact" sounds pretty fishy to us since they would similarly oppose any blood transfusions needed during surgery as well. Think about it.

First a heart for a six-month old is not guaranteed to be available. Imagine you have a child who desperately needs a transplant and that you have done everything to make ready for the surgery, but the hospital decides to give the organ to an infant who hasn't had the care to prepare its body for the operation. How would you feel?

If a surgeon refuses to operate on a patient he or she feels has little chance of survival, that's his/her right. We do not believe the mother's account of the discussion of "legal" and "ethics." There is no law involved here to bring legality into it, and the surgeon's choice seems extremely ethical in the purest sense of the word.

Now some Tennessee legislators want to second guess who goes on the waiting list for transplants and who doesn't. That shouldn't make anyone feel secure.

Bottom line: If you refuse to do what a physician tells you to do, that physician has every right to refuse you care.

Personal takeaway: There's a lot more to this story, and we doubt that much of what's being reported is true. 

Update:

Mother says: he has the most complicated heart disease they’ve seen. He has no developmental problems otherwise.

GoFundMe says: They found out he has HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Sydrome) as well as several other serious issues.

So which it is? Let's let these people get their story straight for the next sucker and leave the heart surgeon alone, shall we?