23-year-old Pennsylvania man with autism denied heart transplant

[xxenderwigginxx]

Paul Corby was born with a heart defect but is otherwise healthy and high functioning. People with autism are sometimes kept off transplant lists out of fear they will be unable to follow doctors instructions after the procedure.

A Pennsylvania mom is fighting to get her 23-year-old autistic son the heart he needs to survive after doctors denied the transplant.
“I was numb at first,” Karen Corby told ABCNews.com, recalling the moment she learned her son’s name wouldn’t be added to the transplant list.
Paul Corby is able-bodied and high-functioning — his only trouble is his heart. Penn Medicine — a hospital group — denied him the operation “given his psychiatric issues, autism, the complexity of the process, multiple procedures and the unknown and unpredictable effect of steroids on behavior,” according to a letter from the hospital.

[link:http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/23-year-old-pennsylvania-man-autism-denied-heart-transplant-hospital-article-1.1137708|

[Ilsa]

1. Paul Corby deserves the heart fucking Dick Cheney got.

At least Corby didn't murder hundreds of thousands of people.

Children, the disabled, and poor people are all expendable pawns to the lordships in charge now.

[rfranklin]

2. They could consider the operation an "experiment"

Victims of Dr. Josef Mengele's medical experiments at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Poland, 1944.

[Live and Learn]

6. OMG - That is the single most horrific picture I have ever seen.

I have seen a lot of horrific pictures but the story that one tells is the worst of all.

[burrowowl]

14. I'm with you!

[mmonk]

3. The rationale isn't credible.

[LynneSin]

4. Wow, just wow

that's all I have to say about that.

[Live and Learn]

5. WTF - There are no words to express my utter horror at this news story.

What have we become? Cheney gets a heart but a 23 year old doesn't? What a sick society!

[Freddie]

7. "That's what's going to happen when you let the government take over health care"

I can hear it now.
Even though this was the hospital's (very wrong) decision, the other side is going to use this as ammunition, just wait

[supernova]

8. Unconcionable

I hope he tries another hospital and another transplant team. If he's high functioning, then being compliant with meds shouldn't be an issue.

And really, who thinks Cheney is being a good little boy even now, taking all meds and eating the right foods 24/7?

[Odin2005]

9. OK, this Aspie is really pissed off right now!!!

[susanr516]

11. I'm with you, Odin

If anything, I would think that a person in the autism spectrum would be MORE likely to follow a strict regimen of taking a number of medications at precisely the right time. Not to broad-brush all those in the spectrum, but so many people with autism have obsessive-compulsive tendencies and feel much more comfortable with a very regular schedule. My grandson is on the low-functioning end of the spectrum and he isn't happy unless he is on a strict schedule.

BTW, Aspies ROCK! You want the truth, ask an Aspie.

[Octafish]

10. Give him Cheney's.

Or else make the procedure available to all who need it.

Healthcare only for the well-off is so...GOP.

[Floyd_Gondolli]

12. I'm so glad we don't ration healthcare

Like Canada, or France. I mean can you imagine?

[Starry Messenger]

13. Um, if he dies, he won't be able to follow doctors instructions at all.

What a stupid fucking policy and a total horror.