A 31-year-old father-of-two was taken off the donor list for a heart transplant at a Boston hospital because he is unvaccinated, even though he is unable to leave the hospital due to his poor condition until he gets a new heart, his family said.
DJ Ferguson has a hereditary heart condition that causes his lungs and heart to fill with blood and fluid without intervention from intravenous medication.
'At this point DJ is unable to leave the hospital until he gets the heart surgery he needs. Without the surgery his lungs and heart will continue to fill up with blood and fluid(on top of everything else that's going on),' said Ferguson's wife, Heather Dawson, on Facebook.
Boston Brigham and Women's Hospital removed Ferguson from their donor list because has not gotten the COVID-19 vaccine - one of many conditions alongside smoking and alcohol use that can make patients ineligible for a transplant - and said in a statement that their aim is to 'create both the best chance for successful operation and also the patient’s survival after transplantation.'
The hospital said that the requirement isn't unique to their practice, and that transplant programs throughout the US require COVID vaccination. The mortality rate for transplant recipients who fall ill with COVID is more than 20 percent, according to UCHealth.
DJ Ferguson, 31 (pictured) has a hereditary heart condition that causes his lungs and heart to fill with blood and fluid without intervention from intravenous medication. He has been denied a life-saving heart transplant because he refuses to get vaccinated against COVID-19
Ferguson's family is considering moving him to another hospital, but he may not be able to be moved in his condition
Ferguson, right, is pictured with his wife, Heather Dawson, and their two children
DJ Ferguson has a hereditary heart condition that causes his lungs and heart to fill with blood and fluid without intervention from intravenous medication.But according to Ferguson's father, David Ferguson, getting vaccinated against COVID is 'kind of against his basic principles' and that his son 'doesn't believe in it.'
'It’s a policy they are enforcing and so because he won’t get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant,' David told CBS Boston.
'My son has gone to the edge of death to stick to his guns and he’s been pushed to the limit.'
Ferguson's family is considering transferring him to another hospital, but his father said that he may be too weak to move.
'We are aggressively pursuing all options, but we are running out of time,' Ferguson's father told the outlet.
'It’s a policy they are enforcing and so because he won’t get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant,' Ferguson's father David told CBS Boston
'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... It’s his body. It’s his choice.'
Dr. Arthur
