Hospitals

Children’s Hospital Facebook page becomes forum for transplant ethics debate

A mother’s blog post alleging that a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia physician explained that her daughter was turned down for a kidney transplant because she is intellectually disabled has sparked an online campaign that transformed the hospital’s Facebook page into a forum for an impassioned transplant ethics debate. Chrissy Rivera’s post described a meeting last […]

By Stephanie Baum on January 17, 2012 12:59 pm

A mother’s blog post alleging that a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia physician explained that her daughter was turned down for a kidney transplant because she is intellectually disabled has sparked an online campaign that transformed the hospital’s Facebook page into a forum for an impassioned transplant ethics debate.

Chrissy Rivera’s post described a meeting last week between herself, her husband Joe and a physician and social worker at the hospital about getting a transplant for their 3-year-old daughter Amelia who suffers from Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes delays in growth and development. The blog post was made on a website that acts as an online community for people with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome.

More than 500 comments have been posted on the page that range from sympathetic supporters of the family to posts criticizing the hospital and how it has handled the issue to parents of former patients praising the hospital’s work. Some parents have shared anecdotes of how other hospitals have dealt with similar issues.

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Although the hospital’s initial statement in response to the comments was to acknowledge the impassioned comments on its page, it began that it could not comment on individual cases:

To our Facebook community:

We hear you.

We feel and understand your frustration, but we are unable to comment publicly on individual cases.

To see the rest of the statement click here.

It later updated the statement with a new paragraph expanding on its treatment of transplant candidates:

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We have continued to watch the comments regarding criteria used in making transplant eligibility decisions with great concern and have updated our below statement with the following information about CHOP’s position on organ transplantation at CHOP:

“The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia does not disqualify potential transplant candidates on the basis of intellectual abilities. We have transplanted many children with a wide range of disabilities, including physical and intellectual disabilities. We at CHOP are deeply committed to providing the best possible medical care to all children, including those with any form of disability.”