The following story was the source of quite some debate on the workfloor. 22-year old Gary Reinbach died from case of liver cirrhosis after he had been refused a liver transplant. The regulations say that a person must prove he can remain sober for 6 months to be eligible for a transplant. The story can be read here.
Now the rules are being questioned. As the mother, Madeline Hanshaw, 44, said: “These rules are really unfair.”
I find myself asking: why is this unfair?
Let’s face it. The following facts are well-known and communicated persistently to the general public:
- Excessive drinking is bad for you
- Binge drinking is a dangerous trend, which needs to be stopped
- Alcohol has a significant more adverse affect on early teens
Regardless of the fact that the judgment of 11-year olds leaves a lot to be desired the fact remains he brought this onto himself. Lines like “he was only taken to hospital for the first time with liver problems 10 weeks ago.” are absolutely meaningless considering, that the effects of long term alcohol abuse is well known and documented.
Even if you did take into consideration that teens make stupid choices, where the hell was the parental supervision? You cannot tell me that you can have a 13 year old binge drinking without knowing what is going on. Who condoned an 11-year old grabbing the bottle?
If there ever was a failure it was lack of supervision from those who had the parental responsibility.
People who drink their liver into the ground are typically not eligible for getting a new one for a good reason: livers are a scarce commodity. There are more people waiting for a donor liver than there are donor livers. These rules have been called into life to ensure those who receive them make the most of them.
Think of the person who would have died if Gary would have been granted this liver instead. Would you still make that argument? I can imagine the headlines if that ever happened and I wager they’d make a much more smutty story than this one.
The only thing left to hope is that Gary’s story is a sound reminder to all the binge drinking youths out there what could be in store for them. Stop it while you still can. Gary would have wanted this… we think.