Foster Teen To Be Removed From Organ Donor List

I don't even know what to say to this, except I have a whole list of mind boggling horrible bullshit to post today. What the fuck is going on in this country? This poor kid has already survived a fucked up childhood and now he's going to die from liver failure because the foster care program is inadequate for his recovery needs. I concur with Aravosis:

So where are all those friends of Terri Schiavo?

And...

Arthur Caplan, chairman of the medical ethics department at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school, said he could think of few, if any, reasons to deny a disabled foster child a transplant organ -- such as if a child's disability rendered him suicidal, or completely incapable of accepting care.

Caplan said it is unreasonable to require the state to guarantee the boy will be in a permanent home for at least two years, given that even children who are not in foster care can't make such guarantees. ''That is a bar a little too high,'' Caplan said.

Transplant teams routinely accept pledges from recovering alcoholics that they will never drink again after accepting a donated liver, or promises that smokers will quit smoking once they receive a new heart, Caplan said. Why should a foster child be required to do more than that? he asked.

''It is absolutely unethical to deny a transplant to a child because you don't have a home setting that is stable or parents who can help with compliance with the treatment,'' Caplan said. ``That's why you have child-caring agencies and foster care. That's what child welfare should be doing.''

''This kid should be listed,'' Caplan said.

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