I was a bit annoyed after reading this article in the paper this morning. It talks about a man who was denied a liver transplant because he used medical marijuana. I don’t understand the reasoning behind this, and this line, quoting Dr. Robert Sade (director of the Institute of Human Values in Health Care at the Medical University of South Carolina) particularly bothers me:
“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,” Sade said.
If that is their reasoning, it is disturbingly flawed. If we can deny someone a potentially life-saving procedure because of the person’s “potential” toward an addictive personality, we should deny EVERYONE such medical treatment. Everyone has the potential for addiction, whether it be addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, food, attention, etc, etc, etc.
I could go on to list the reasons to excuse this man’s marijuana use, medically prescribed or not, but that really isn’t the point, since his denial is not based on the idea that marijuana is harmful to the liver (it isn’t), or even that it is physically addicting (nope, it isn’t that either), but based on “addictive personality”! Sade writes on medical ethics, not medical research. He is the founder of the Institute of Human Values in Health Care. The fact that they are basing this man’s right to life-saving medical treatment on a moral viewpoint instead of scientific fact and research is in itself unethical.
The medical board in charge of liver (or any) transplants is incredibly stringent with who gets them. I could tell you some real horror stories about this but I think I could get sued, so I won’t.
There is a saying “good health is above wealth”. Nowadays medical costs are too high and hefty as we all need medical treatment.
This is just sick!
I wholeheartedly agree with this post. Hello, the word “medical marijuana” – - honest to goodness, the word MEDICAL is in the wording- MEDICAL *throws hands in the air*
This is wrong!
There is so much wrong with all of the things I touched on here that I could easily argue several points, as I’m sure everyone who responded could. (I’m glad to know that there are likely more intelligent minds than mine already arguing it so that I can sit my lazy ass home and bitch without actually doing anything about it!)
God, I hope I never need a transplant because I would be really f—ed! But then, I suppose even if I had lived my life as healthfully as possible and never touched any mood-altering substances, I would still be denied a transplant if I needed one, simply because I have that “potential”!
The highly liberal, though entertaining, TV show “Eli Stone,” dealt with this a few weeks ago. Lady got passed over for a transplant cuz she was an alcoholic. She died.
They questioned the ethics of choosing to give a liver to someone who lives a healthy lifestyle over one who does not.
In the case of the patient in this article, the patient had already been told to clean up for 6 months and he could get back on the list, even though it was found out that he had been a speed freak growing up. So, he showed a pattern of addictive behavior already.
There are some seriously good pain medications on the market today. Marijuana is typically only used because it stimulates hunger in terminal patients who are losing weight due to their illness or the treatment (such as HIV patients and/or cancer patients undergoing chemo). Medical Marijuana is prized more for that reason than because of it’s ability to dull the pain. For that, morphine is much more effective.
So, I’m betting the question the doctors kept coming back to is, “Why is this patient risking arrest by growing and using marijuana rather than just getting an effective prescribed pain medication?”
But here’s a question, if you were dying and you had a good heart to give to someone and they said, “We have two patients here. One is a regular marijuana user and the other leads a clean lifestyle. They are equally in need of a heart. We aren’t sure if the marijuana use will affect the person’s ability to fight off the natural organ rejection effects of the body, or if it will in any way, inhibit the immune-suppression medication they’ll have to take after the surgery. It’s your choice.”
Who would you give it to?
(I file this under “Postulates”)
I’d give my heart to the one who smoked dope. What the fuck is a “clean” lifestyle? I usually like dirty people better.
i’m not saying the situation i’m about to describe could happen in every healthcare setting, but it is fairly reflective of how some in the medical community view addiction. i had a client once who was on hospice. she’d begun complaining of increased pain and said she was getting less pain medication than she had previously received. i checked her chart and her orders were unchanged, so i met with the charge nurse on her unit. this learned woman verified that less pain meds were being administered, because “you know how addictive it is– we don’t want her getting hooked on it”. hello? hospice? terminal illness? less than 6 months to live…? anyone? anyone? maddening.