Another disabled person denied a transplant because of his disability. Another petition in hopes of changing the hospital's decision (go sign it, please).
After the last time, with Mia Rivera (click on her name to read the good news that her mother will get to give Mia a kidney), the disability community came out in full force to support the Rivera family, and it's happening again, thankfully, with blogger after blogger writing about Paul Corby's story.
Will this outpouring of outrage make the same kind of difference this time? We can hope. But one thing's certain, if we don't, as a community, come out strongly and forcefully for families going through this kind of discrimination, it will never end, never stop, and it will be someone we know and love.
Yes, resources are often deemed "scarce" and the costs of transplantation are high, but people have intrinsic value, and autism and other related disorders SHOULD NEVER BE the determining factor as to whether a person gets on the transplant list.
For other bloggers covering this, please see the feeds on the autism blogs directory.
After the last time, with Mia Rivera (click on her name to read the good news that her mother will get to give Mia a kidney), the disability community came out in full force to support the Rivera family, and it's happening again, thankfully, with blogger after blogger writing about Paul Corby's story.
Will this outpouring of outrage make the same kind of difference this time? We can hope. But one thing's certain, if we don't, as a community, come out strongly and forcefully for families going through this kind of discrimination, it will never end, never stop, and it will be someone we know and love.
Yes, resources are often deemed "scarce" and the costs of transplantation are high, but people have intrinsic value, and autism and other related disorders SHOULD NEVER BE the determining factor as to whether a person gets on the transplant list.
For other bloggers covering this, please see the feeds on the autism blogs directory.
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-204_162-326305.html
Note that in this instance the convict turned down the transplant, but it is significant that it was a consideration in the first place.
If this is the criteria that is to be applied for transplants, then by what stretch of the imagination can someone like Paul Corby be denied?
In many respects this also plays into the recent topic I posted about "playing God". This is not a problem that is going to go away. It does illustrate how poorly prepared we are to deal with such serious philosophical questions.