Wash. State Medical Marijuana User Dies Without Transplant

[MedicalNeed]

A musician who was denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana with medical approval under Washington state law to ease the symptoms of advanced hepatitis C died Thursday.

The death of Timothy Garon, 56, at Bailey-Boushay House, an intensive care nursing center was confirmed to The Associated Press by his lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, and Alisha Mark, a spokeswoman for Virginia Mason Medical Center, which operates Bailey-Boushay.

Dr. Brad Roter, the physician who authorized Garon to smoke pot to alleviate for nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite, said he did not know it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant.

The case has highlighted a new ethical consideration for those allocating organs for transplant, especially in the dozen states that have medical marijuana laws: When dying patients need a transplant, should it be held against them if they've used pot with a doctor's blessing?

Garon died a week after his doctor told him a University of Washington Medical Center committee had again denied him a spot on the liver transplant list because of his use of marijuana, although it was authorized under Washington state law.

"He said I'm going to die with such conviction," Garon told an AP reporter at the time. "I'm not angry, I'm not mad, I'm just confused."

Garon believes he contracted hepatitis C by sharing needles with "speed freaks" as a teenager. In recent years, he said, pot has been the only drug he's used. In December, he was arrested for growing marijuana.

He had been in the hospice for two months and previously was rejected for a transplant at Swedish Medical Center for the same reason he later got from the university hospital.

Swedish said he would be considered if he avoided pot for six months and the university hospital offered to reconsider if he enrolled in a 60-day drug treatment program, but doctors said his liver disease was too advanced for him to last that long. The university hospital committee agreed to reconsider anyway, then denied him again.


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: kboi2.com
Author: Associated Press
Contact: KBOI 2 - Boise News, Weather, Sports and Breaking News Boise, Idaho
Copyright: 2011 Fisher Communications, Inc.
Website:Wash. state medical marijuana user dies without transplant

 

[Jacob Bell]

This story hits a nerve with me, big time. My best friend also died recently, and they would not give him a transplant if he used mmj as well. He lived in Oregon. Granted, he stopped using cannabis, which sucked, so he could be clean to get a transplant, and his "story" is not exactly like this one, but very similar.
It's insane that a medicine can be completely legal by State law, yet you can't get a transplant if you use it??? What the flying frack is that about? I never heard a doctor say, you can't have a transplant because you used morphine or percoset or vicoden or any other medicine. If it's legal to use it, then by all rights you should be legal for a transplant while using it. This really ticks me off.

 

[farmboy420]

This is such BS, I agree with GuitarMan313 if he was taking prescription drugs it would be no prob, what's the difference except that they are worse for you than MMJ. Is this what our society has come too??? Sorry for the loss of your friend GuitarMan313, may they rest in peace.....

 

[Weed420]

There's been quite a few people that U of W has refused organ transplants because of MMJ. And whats amazing is U of W is doing a lot of research in cannabis for medicine but yet they do this. Its time to put an end to insanity of letting people die just because of MMJ use.

 

[farmboy420]

I totally agree, this has to stop....here the US is encouraging other countries to fight for their rights, what about the rights of the tax paying MMJ users. It is a crime to not allow someone the medical care they deserve....The more I think about this the madder I get...Time for a medicate.....