Or military service or public school attendance or international travel or public and private universities or… and so on.
I didn’t realize your specialty was pediatrics. Hats off to you, doc. That can’t be easy even without a global pandemic. 
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Thanks. I always say it’s 98% unicorns and fairy dust, and 2% the darkest depths of hell imaginable. Although lately, those proportions seem to be shifting a bit.
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I wonder if he would have even accepted a heart from a vaccinated donor or if he’d be too concerned about the donor’s antibodies getting into his system.
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And I’ve always wondered how pediatric oncologists manage to be some of the most pleasant people I’ve met. Somehow they manage to compartmentalize the darkness, I guess.
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I spent the first part of my career as a Peds Intensivist. As a whole, I think working with kids keeps you grounded. They never buy into the God-syndrome stuff, and generally call it as they see it. They also have incredibly sensitive BS detectors. Even peds surgeons tend to be personable and nicer than the average for the species. But it does wear on you, and I got way too good at the “Your child is dying and I can’t stop it” talk. Managed to hide out from the worst of the bullshit for a while, even with my time in the vaccine wars, but this is a different animal all around.
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i am so confused what his family even means by this. it’s something obvious to them id guess, but not to me. what principles? what is “it”? and how does this guy contend with those ideas and not live off with the amish or something?
( i almost said mennonite, but they’re actually getting vaccinated )
awww. just like boing boing 
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Yuck. Doing that for adults is hard enough.
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Good. No different than telling a lung transplant recipient to stop smoking. He doesn’t deserve a heart if he won’t do the absolute minimum to protect himself and the transplanted organ.
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Natural selection at its best.
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Yabbut . . . This issue here is that the media blares this as a “Won’t Get A Covid shot” and then focuses the article on that. It’s presented as a “both sides” thing. The guy doesn’t want the covid shot, it’s against his principles. The hospital requires it–it’s one of many requirements. There’s a great deal of sympathy for the guy in this article, when it should be pretty straightforward. Alternate headline:
Local Man Isn’t a Candidate For A Heart Transplant
(Back Bay) A local man was taken off the transplant list after he was deemed not qualified for a transplant. A representative from the hospital stated that “donated organs are a precious commodity. (The hospital) has a number of requirements in order to qualify someone for a transplant. Mr. Jingleheimer-Schmidt did not meet all of the requirements.”
The reporter elected not to speak with Mr. Jingleheimer-Schmidt because it turns out that lots of people don’t qualify for a transplant based on a number of conditions, and this happens all the time.
Instead there’s this sympathetic back-and-forth that makes it seem like this is a new and unusual situation, when in reality people have been denied transplants since the beginning of transplants because they didn’t meet the medical criteria.
When the guy’s dad called the paper to gin up publicity (or however this went down) the news outlet should have said “huh, interesting, but not really ‘man bites dog’ territory.”
ETA: The article should also note that the heart isn’t going to waste. The transplant list is very long, and it’ll almost certainly find a home inside someone who will take care of it…
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Will his cause of death be as stupid instead of heart failure?
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You know who you don’t screw around with? Transplant teams, that’s who.
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The Mrs. works in the Leukemia/BMT program; you DO NOT want to piss off the good lady or her Drs.
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The stoopid is strong with this one. — Yoda
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Not to mention all of the immunosuppressive drugs he’ll have to be on post surgery…
I’d have some sympathy if his pre-surgery condition somehow prevented him from being a candidate for vaccination, but this doesn’t sound like the case.
Let the heart go to someone who isn’t an antivaxx asshole.
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I recently learned he was a real guy. Not clear why Mel used his name.
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It’s difficult for me to have sympathy for self-inflicted wounds. According to the linked article, the dude is 31 years old:
DJ remains at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is a father of two children with a third on the way.
Dude apparently hates his family. Seems like a normal father would want to see his kids grow up.
The family says they are not sure what they plan to do.
Plan for a funeral, perhaps?
They are thinking about transferring him, but he may be too weak to move.
Got news for 'em. No one else is going to put him on their transplant list unless he gets vaccinnated. They sound like anti-vaxxers, anyway:
…they just don’t agree with the heart transplant COVID vaccination policy. “I think my boy is fighting pretty damn courageously and he has integrity and principles he really believes in and that makes me respect him all the more.”
Suicide bombers have principles they really believe in, too…
Which is why the family is sticking by DJ’s side and hoping for the best. “It’s his body. It’s his choice,” Ferguson said.
‘Hoping for the best’?
WTF are they hoping for?
That some nutjob CongressCritter will start screaming about this Obvious Injustice?
That some nutjob Judge will issue a proclamation or something?
The sources that have apparently soaked these people in mal/mis/dis information have effectively killed this dude.
Too bad they aren’t being held accountable.
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My inner Tyler Durden wants to start yelling about how they’re not special snowflakes and nobody asked for their opinions
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Might as well give a lung transplant to someone who won’t stop smoking … during the operation.
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