Wow.  If this isn't the epitome of offensive gall . . .  I hope those who have   
   weaned themselves off the bottle or were never alcoholics, have something to   
   say to this turd about his demands.   
   ________________________   
   CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2019   
      
   Indigenous B.C. man denied place on liver transplant list challenges alcohol   
   abstinence rule   
      
   Policy requires people to abstain from alcohol for six months in order to be   
   eligible for a liver transplant   
      
   The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and an Indigenous man are filing a complaint   
   at the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal challenging the legality of a policy that   
   requires people to abstain from alcohol for six months in order to be eligible   
   for a liver transplant.   
      
   David Dennis, 44, who is Carrier Sekani and Nuu-chah-nulth, has end-stage   
   liver disease.  The Vancouver man says he would qualify as a priority   
   candidate for a liver transplant, if not for BC Transplant's abstinence policy.   
      
   Because Dennis has not abstained from alcohol for the past six months, he says   
   he's been "kicked off the list entirely."   
      
   Chronic liver disease is the deterioration of the liver. It can be caused by   
   many different things like hepatitis, autoimmune deficiencies, metabolic   
   conditions and alcohol or drug use.  End-stage liver disease is the point of   
   deterioration at which a    
   liver transplant is the only effective treatment.     
      
   The groups bringing the challenge wrote that the abstinence policy   
   discriminates against Indigenous people.   
      
   They say Indigenous people have disproportionately higher rates of alcohol use   
   disorder due to "centuries of racist and harmful colonial policies implemented   
   at all levels of Canadian government, but especially through the   
   intergenerational traumas of    
   the Indian residential schools on Indigenous families and communities."   
      
      
   Intergenerational trauma   
      
   In an interview, Dennis says he's been an alcoholic for most of his life. He   
   says both sides of his family have a history of alcohol dependency.   
      
   "Both my parents [were] chronic alcoholics who recovered from residential   
   school, " he said. "My late father Clarence died from alcoholism. My   
   grandfather on my mother's side died from suicide while intoxicated. My   
   grandmother went missing … she was an    
   alcoholic."   
      
   Dennis, who said he has been sober since mid-May, is holding onto hope he can   
   get a transplant.   
      
   "But if I don't make it, I want the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and Frank Paul   
   Society to carry on and get rid of this lethal form of racism."   
                                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   Policy challenged in Ontario   
      
   In general, liver transplant programs in Canada require a period of six months   
   of abstinence from alcohol before considering a patient with liver disease.   
      
   According to a June 2019 scientific paper from the University of British   
   Columbia, researchers in Hepatology Communications, one reason for the   
   abstinence period is that stopping alcohol use can improve liver function to   
   the point where a liver    
   transplant may not be needed.   Advocates of the policy say they are also   
   concerned patients could relapse into alcohol consumption after the transplant.   
      
   The policy has not been without challenge.   
      
   Debra Selkirk, whose husband died of liver failure from acute alcoholic   
   hepatitis in 2010, launched a a constitutional challenge against the policy,   
   arguing it didn't allow her husband enough time to get sober before requiring   
   a transplant.   
      
   Delilah Saunders, a young Inuk activist, gained support from Amnesty   
   International after she was denied a liver transplant for having a history of   
   alcohol use in 2017.     
      
   In 2018, Ontario began a three-year pilot program to review the policy.   
   Agency reviewing case   
      
   BC Transplant responded with a written statement saying it "appreciates the   
   distress that patients and their loved ones face when needing an organ   
   transplant."   
      
   The agency, which oversees all aspects of organ donation and transplant in   
   B.C. and manages the province's organ donor registry, said it would be   
   reviewing the case together with the Liver Transplant Team at Vancouver   
   Coastal Health.   
      
   Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, wrote   
   that "the proper response to Indigenous peoples whose lives have been affected   
   by intergenerational trauma and oppressive colonial policies should include   
   empathy and    
   understanding, not another door shut to justice and equality. "   
      
   As of July 31, 2019, there are 53 people on the wait list for liver   
   transplants in British Columbia.   
   _________________________   
      
       'You want to scream': Cost of organ transplant a worry for some B.C.   
   patients   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)