Mendon, Massachusetts - The family of D.J. Ferguson, 31-year-old father of two has made a crowdfunding appeal this week that officials at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has denied a heart transplant because he hasn’t been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The Boston hospital is defending itself saying most transplant programs around the country set similar requirements to improve patients’ chances of survival.

D.J.’s mother, Tracey Ferguson, insists that her son isn’t against vaccinations, noting he’s had other immunizations in the past. But the trained nurse said Wednesday that he’s been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation — an irregular and often rapid heart rhythm — and that he has concerns about the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital declined to comment on D.J. Ferguson’s case, citing patient privacy laws. But it pointed to a response that it posted on its website in which it said the COVID-19 vaccine is one of several immunizations required by most U.S. transplant programs, including a flu shot and hepatitis B vaccines.

The hospital said research has shown that transplant recipients are at higher risk than non-transplant patients of dying from COVID-19, and that its policies are in line with the recommendations of the American Society of Transplantation and other health organizations.

Patients also must meet other health and lifestyle criteria to receive donated organs, and it’s unknown if D.J. Ferguson did or would have met them.

Brigham & Womens Hospital also stressed that no patient is placed on an organ waitlist without meeting those criteria and rejected the notion that a transplant candidate could be considered “first on the list” for an organ — a claim Ferguson’s family made in its fundraising post.

There is a scarcity of donor organs, so transplant centers only place patients on the waiting list whom they deem the most likely to survive with a new organ.

The United Network for Organ Sharing, the non-profit that manages the country’s organ transplant system, doesn’t track how many patients refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine have been denied transplants, said Anne Paschke, an organization spokesperson.

According to the online fundraiser, D.J. Ferguson was hospitalized in late November for a heart ailment that caused his lungs to fill with blood and fluid. He was then transferred to Brigham and Women’s, where doctors inserted an emergency heart pump that the family says is only meant to be a temporary stopgap.
-AP