Discussion: Organs of Gay Man REJECTED; High Risk

GoneHome

Quote:

A Windsor woman believes her late son's organs were rejected for donation because he was gay.

Nancy Campana's son Rocky was an organ donor, but none were used after his death.

"I was asked if he was a gay male and I said, 'yes.' And I was asked if he was a sexually active gay male or if he had a partner and I said, 'yes,'" Campana said of a conversation she had with Trillium Gift of Life following Rocky's death.

She said the tone of the conversation changed, and the family was later told they could not donate Rocky's organs.

"When I got off the phone to relay that to both [Rocky's father] Rob and a lot of Rocky's friends ... many of them broke down," she said. "The gay ones said, 'Nancy, we can't donate blood; they're not going to take our organs.'"

Organ donation
According to the Trillium Gift of Life Network, there are approximately 1,500 people waiting for an organ transplant in Ontario right now.

So far this year, 129 people have have donated in this province, which is down from 132 during the same period last year.

Health Canada changed the rules for organ donation in late 2007. The changes mean sexually active gay men, injection drug users and other groups considered high risk will no longer be accepted as organ donors.

The rules are similar to the regulations for determining who can donate blood. Those rules exclude groups that are at high risk of transmitting infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C and B.

Under Health Canada policy:

A gay man who had practised abstinence for five years prior to organ donation would be considered an acceptable donor.
A heterosexual man who has had a single sexual encounter with a male within the past five years would not be considered an acceptable donor.
The Campanas are currently working with staff at the office of Windsor West NDP MP Brian Masse to table a petition that would asked the House of Commons to change the rules governing organ donation. They want it to be easier for a gay man's organs to be donated.

A Masse spokesperson said the petition's language has been vetted by the Petitions Branch in the House of Commons.

The Campanas and others will soon start gathering signatures.

Trillium CEO Ronnie Gavsie said that while a donor's sexuality is not a deciding factor, it does make a difference.

"According to the Health Canada legislation, a man or woman who is gay would fall into the high-risk category. But that fact alone would not preclude them from being a donor," she said. "That is just one of the many factors that go into being in the high-risk category."

Other factors include whether a donor uses injection drugs, has had a recent tattoo or piercing, is an inmate of a correctional facility or has haemophilia and has received donated blood.

"And then, someone who is high risk, that information will be carried forward to the potential recipient," said Gavsie.

The Campanas say the explanation given to them was that trace amounts of drugs were found in Rocky's system.

But they say doctors at the hospital told them the results could be a false positive, because of the drugs used to try to save his life. Rocky Campana attempted suicide and was taken off life support shortly after in August of last year.

His family believes this is about sexual orientation, and now they're taking on the system that categorizes gay donors as high risk.

"That was Rocky. Injustices were big to him, so I think that we are really determined to try to get the word out to everyone," said Rob Campana

SOURCE: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windso...-donation.html

What do you think? I believe the "drugs" part was an excuse by the hospital.

Mannequin.Dummy

[center]5 years of abstinence is a little extreme. I was celibate for almost a year and damn near lost my mind.

JonnyϟLightning

If I needed an organ transplant, the last thing I would need is a gay man's diseased organs in me.

J03Y

what? that's ******** if you have a sexually transmitted disease then you shouldn't donate your organs. it shouldn't matter whether your gay or not wtf Canada

Retro

****ing stupid ********.

I really can't with all of this.

Living Legend

WTF where do you guys read he has a disease??

This is racism. /end

KhaleesiMiley

This is BS

Inverted

Quote:

Originally posted by Living Legend

WTF where do you guys read he has a disease??

This is racism. /end

LOL @ racism. The umbrella word for all types of discrimination is bigotry.

JonnyϟLightning

Quote:

Originally posted by Living Legend

WTF where do you guys read he has a disease??

This is racism. /end

So they denied him because he was white?

Brando

Jonny

Princedele21

Well, no one wants HIV.

Living Legend

Quote:

Originally posted by Inverted

LOL @ racism. The umbrella word for all types of discrimination is bigotry.

So what? In what category would you put homophobia?

Frozen99

This sad if it's true

theo.

Retro

Quote:

Originally posted by Princedele21

Well, no one wants HIV.

He didn't have HIV.

lasersss

Quote:

Originally posted by Living Legend

WTF where do you guys read he has a disease??

This is racism. /end

Racism?? chile...

Sunshine.

Quote:

Originally posted by JonnyϟLightning

If I needed an organ transplant, the last thing I would need is a gay man's diseased organs in me.

!!!

Vespertine

I understand why they don't want gay/bi men donating blood, as screening blood only to find they can't use it is just a waste of their time (I'm actually blacklisted from blood drives because something about the makeup of my blood consistently gives a false positive on a test for some virus during their blood screenings; they know I'm totally clean and healthy but they said it's just not worth their time/money/effort to have to go through a long procedure of showing my blood is not infected every time I donate).

But it doesn't make sense to outright refuse organs. The demand for organs (compared to blood) is so high that surely it would be worth the time and effort to make sure the organs are safe? They have to do the tests anyways, since obviously straight men and women can have HIV as well (as can people who have been celibate for a few years... I mean wtf does that solve?

).

Liberdade mi amor

If he was healthy I don't see why he can't donate organs... What kind of logic...

brIt-()nstar

Well, even if he wants to help, research says that a white homosexual man is at high risk for HIV.