And, of course, he's need to investigate IF they do drug testing / banish you from the list for ingesting cannabis?????
Yes. You should probably have him investigate as to if what you inform him of is going to lead to his death or not.
Minnesota IS going to test for drugs. The issue will be what the individual transplant center is going to do with that information.
The University of Minnesota transplant team's list for liver transplants have about 1,400 people on the list die a year because a liver was not available or they were otherwise unable to transplant. (
http://mnimed.org/assets/pdf/hospitals/fairview/Adult_Liver_Fact_Sheet.pdf )
Minnesota is in region 7 of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation network. The numbers of organs available and the number currently on the wait list is at
https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/members/regions/region-7/ .
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russ-belville/the-denial-of-organ-trans_b_435348.html
In January I went to the University of Minnesota/Fairview Transplant Center for an evaluation. In order to be completely honest with all the doctors I made them aware of the fact that I smoke marijuana and have for quite some time. I also made them aware that the use of marijuana has helped me with the decline of my appetite due to end stage of renal disease. With the exception of the hospital shrink, no one seemed to have a problem with it and even commented that my smoking had nothing to do with my kidney.
Blue Cross Blue Shield approved the evaluation but [after] having received the paperwork from Minnesota has declined my transplant, stating “Kidney transplantation has not been shown to be more beneficial than other alternative treatments for patients with ongoing substance abuse. Thus, I recommended denial of kidney transplantation” (Ronald Hunt MD - Medical Director).
From a law review in 2011,
http://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1091&context=mjlr
Organ transplant candidates are often denied life saving organs on account of their medical marjuana drug use. Individuals who smoke medicinal marijuana are typically classified as substance abusers, and ultimately deemed ineligible for transplantation, despite their receipt of the drug under a physician's supervision and prescription.
Remember, that is for legal use. Illegal use is often defined as abuse simply because of the illegality.
The "good" study to not focus on cannabis use/abuse in determining who to transplant. The goal is to change current policy.
https://www.theroc.us/researchlibrary/Marijuana Use in Potential Liver Transplant Candidates.pdf
In an article explaining the issue at
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/31/health/medical-marijuana-organ-transplants-explainer/index.html , it shows each transplant center can choose the criteria (with review of the policies by other organizations).
The policies of most transplant programs, which determine who gets on a waiting list, are evaluated through UNOS and the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, among other agencies.
"The decisions for a center to accept anything -- (for example) some people say I'm not going to transplant anybody over the age 50 or 60 -- they're allowed to do that," said Dr. John Fung, chief of transplantation surgery and director of the Transplantation Institute at the University of Chicago Medicine.
Other than protecting against racial or gender discrimination "no rule says you have to transplant any given population," Fung said. "But each center basically evolves their own criteria," he said.
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"My views have gone more towards allowance of a patient with medical marijuana, documented for a good medical reason, to be allowed to take it without getting penalized for it," Fung said. "I would still say that that is the minority view."
In the future, UNOS's Klassen said that he thinks more transplant programs will continue to evaluate and evolve their policies to address the changing climate around medical marijuana.
"There is an increasing acceptance of medical marijuana as an acceptable and relatively commonly prescribed medication," Klassen said. "I think programs are incorporating that into their assessment of patients."
The MINORITY VIEW is that use of MEDICAL MARIJUANA for a documented GOOD MEDICAL REASON should not be penalized for it. The neighbor is NOT using medical marijuana NOR is a study or two equal to a good medical reason.
Marijuana is not the neighbor's chance at life, a transplant is.
There are an estimated 17,000 on liver transplant lists in the US with 6,000 transplants being performed each year.
