A Colorado-based hospital system, is denying organ transplants to unvaccinated patients in "almost all situations."

[link to khn.org (secure)]

Is this what we have to look forward to?

"In almost all situations, transplant recipients and living donors at UCHealth are now required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in addition to meeting other health requirements and receiving additional vaccinations," a spokesperson for UCHealth said in a statement to The Hill.

UCHealth explained that patients who receive an organ transplant are at "significant risk for COVID-19" and stated that the mortality rate for transplant patients who are infected with the coronavirus is between 18% and 32%.

"This is why it is essential that both the recipient and the living donor be vaccinated and take other precautions prior to undergoing transplant surgery," the health system's statement explained. "Surgeries may be postponed until patients take all required precautions in order to give them the best chance at positive outcomes."

The rules made headlines on Tuesday after Rep. Tim Geitner (R-Colo.) announced that the health system denied a kidney transplant to an area woman because she did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a statement, Geitner called the practice "disgusting."

He shared a letter that he said the unnamed patient reportedly received last week from the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.

In its letter, the health system said:

The transplant team at the University of Colorado Hospital has determined that it is necessary to place you inactive on the waiting list. You will be inactivated on the list for non-compliance by not receiving the COVID vaccine. You will have 30 days to begin the vaccination series. If your decision is to refuse COVID vaccination you will be removed from the kidney transplant list. You will continue to accrue waiting time, but you will not receive a kidney offer while listed inactive. Once you complete the COVID vaccination series you will be reactivated on the kidney transplant list pending any other changes in your health condition.
UCHealth denies life-saving treatment - kidney transplant - to El Paso County residents.