A mother in Australia says she has been denied the opportunity to receive a heart transplant because of her COVID-19 vaccination status, despite having a medical exemption, News.com.au reported Monday.
Vicki Derderian, a mother of two from Melbourne, is in need of a heart transplant after her own failed in 2020, according to the outlet. She requires the use of ventricular assist device (VAD) to keep her heart beating, and may continue to have to use the device for the unforeseeable future due to what she calls the “no jab, no heart” policy of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.
Australian mom denied heart transplant due to her COVID-19 vaccination status https://t.co/hOLrOpuwyM pic.twitter.com/V43KHR3G3S
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“The hospital stance at the moment is no jab, no heart. I‘m ready to be on the heart transplant list because medically I’m stable to be on it. But unfortunately, because of these mandates, it has interfered with patient-doctor relationships,” Derderian said, according to News.com.au.
Derderian reportedly has a medical exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine due to her concern about potential heart complications such as myocarditis and pericarditis. (RELATED: REPORT: Dad In Desperate Need Of Heart Transplant Denied After Refusing Vaccine)
“Patients like myself, we‘re being pushed into a corner and coerced to take something that goes against what we believe in. Or not receive lifesaving treatment. And also for doctors as well, they are forced to implement this on their patients otherwise they’ll lose their jobs,”she continued, the outlet reported.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr. Nick Coatsworth reportedly sympathizes with Derderian. Still, he argued her immune system would be compromised if she were to get a transplant, making Derderian and the organ she receives more susceptible to complications if she contracted COVID-19, according to News.com.au.
“From a transplant physicians point of view… the biggest risk to you when we hit your immune system like that if you get Covid-19 without having the vaccine, then there’s a really significant risk that you’ll die and that organ will die with you. And we don‘t want that to happen to you and we certainly don’t want it to happen to the family whose made that sacred donation,” he said, the outlet reported.
Coatsworth added that while the issue at hand is complex, he stands by the rules of the transplant physicians, according to News.com.au.