Georgia teen who got donated heart dies in crime spree: cops

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

I have to wonder how badly his family was in debt. When you have a kid with a serious medical condition like that, it costs a boatload of money. Even in a country with socialized medicine, keeping a kid with a serious medical condition alive accumulates debt. In America, I can only imagine that is exponentially worse.

When people grow up in poverty, whether they see their parents having just given up and live on welfare OR having worked their butts off and not gone anywhere, it's easy to see where someone would get the idea that the only way to toss things up and get an actual chance would be crime.

It's just a shame that he made such awful choices with his second chance, though I do question how much those choices were choices with better options and how much they were just one more bad option in a list of bad options.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

This is CEHST. Please leave your favorite mythical characters out of the discussion at hand.

What was that Jesus said about judging others? Also, he was 17. Teenagers aren't exactly famous for making great decisions at the best of times.

[Póg mo 1,749]

This is CEHST. Please leave your favorite mythical characters out of the discussion at hand.

I can believe in Jesus the person without necessarily believing in Jesus son of God. The Christian bible has had a large influence on western philosophy, so I don't see the problem talking about characters from the bible. Also, seeing as a large percentage of Americans claim to believe in Christianity, shouldn't they be expected to follow the teachings of the person the religion is based upon?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I can believe in Jesus the person without necessarily believing in Jesus son of God. The Christian bible has had a large influence on western philosophy, so I don't see the problem talking about characters from the bible. Also, seeing as a large percentage of Americans claim to believe in Christianity, shouldn't they be expected to follow the teachings of the person the religion is based upon?

Behold the Man!

Worth a read.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

The only thing that is sad, is that a person who was not donor eligible, was put ahead of those who did qualify simply because of he color of his skin and the threat of someone screaming racism.

Him being a gangster or straight A student is irrelevant. Someone did not get a heart and died simply because of the color of someones skin.

Oddly the very groups and people that scream racism the most give this a big thumbs up.

So how would many of you feel if a white kid was put ahead of a black because of the color of his skin. This is the 1920's again, only its politically correct to be a racist if you are black and the roles are reversed.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Thinning out the herd.

[Dakine10 5,452]

The only thing that is sad, is that a person who was not donor eligible, was put ahead of those who did qualify simply because of he color of his skin and the threat of someone screaming racism.

Him being a gangster or straight A student is irrelevant. Someone did not get a heart and died simply because of the color of someones skin.

Oddly the very groups and people that scream racism the most give this a big thumbs up.

So how would many of you feel if a white kid was put ahead of a black because of the color of his skin. This is the 1920's again, only its politically correct to be a racist if you are black and the roles are reversed.

He was not donor eligible because they felt he would not be compliant with medications. This is not based on his medical history, it is based on cost. He didn't have any other history of non compliance.

Medically, he was a good candidate for a heart transplant. Not based on skin color, based on age. In any other country his age alone would have had him at the top of the list.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

He was not donor eligible because they felt he would not be compliant with medications. This is not based on his medical history, it is based on cost. He didn't have any other history of non compliance.

Medically, he was a good candidate for a heart transplant. Not based on skin color, based on age. In any other country his age alone would have had him at the top of the list.

LOL Oh yes, Him being non compliant had nothing to do with his medical history. DuH OH You can't make this stuff up.. That's VJ gold right there

[Dakine10 5,452]

LOL Oh yes, Him being non compliant had nothing to do with his medical history. DuH OH You can't make this stuff up.. That's VJ gold right there

If you have some knowledge of his medical history, you should post it. You "expert" opinion doesn't really account for anything. There was no medical basis that I can see for the hospital to determine non compliance, which is why the hospital had to wipe the egg of their face.

If you are talking about behavioral non-compliance, which is a different issue, and a more subjective one, then we should take all the smokers and obese people off the transplant list too. And then it's a short list.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

LOL Oh yes, Him being non compliant had nothing to do with his medical history. DuH OH You can't make this stuff up.. That's VJ gold right there

Imagine, for a moment, being a young teenager. You're fifteen years old. You've been healthy your whole life. You've never had a problem. Then suddenly, you have problems sleeping. Your chest hurts. You're told you have 3-6 months to live. It's a death sentence. You have no prior medical history to tell doctors whether you'll be compliant with medications, because until now, you have been healthy. You've made serious mistakes in your life, but you're fifteen.

They tell you that teenagers often are non-compliant. There's your first mark against you--based solely on age. They point out that you're bad at school--maybe because you just can't be bothered, maybe because of problems in school with other kids, maybe because the teachers don't actually care about their jobs, maybe because you've got an undiagnosed learning disability. It bears noting that poor people are much less likely to be diagnosed with even severe learning disabilities and that people of colour often get less attention from teachers. Strike two. You've got into some fights and the police got involved in that. You're on house arrest. It bears noting that black teenage boys are far more likely to go to jail or receive sentencing for fighting than white teenage boys or teenage girls of either race. Strike three.

Because you are a teenage boy who has made mistakes and you are not good at school, you have now been sentenced to die. It has nothing to do with your medical history, because you DO NOT HAVE a medical history. The heart problem that affected Anthony Stokes came up over the course of the summer where he was 15 and within only a short amount of time, not long enough to get any actual history of MEDICAL compliance established, he was sentenced to die.

That's why people challenged the hospital decision. Because he was a child without a history of medical non-compliance. The hospital even said, in the news, that people could be denied a spot on the transplant list simply because they lacked family members to drive them to the hospital as often as they might need in the time after the transplant--and so due to no fault of their own, the crime of simply not having family, they might be denied a heart due to 'non-compliance.'

[Rattlehead 69]

You mean the medical history of him destroying the heart from the first transplant?

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

You mean the medical history of him destroying the heart from the first transplant?

Can you cite where he had two transplants? I can't find any news story reporting this, even ones condemning the family.

[Dakine10 5,452]

That's why people challenged the hospital decision. Because he was a child without a history of medical non-compliance. The hospital even said, in the news, that people could be denied a spot on the transplant list simply because they lacked family members to drive them to the hospital as often as they might need in the time after the transplant--and so due to no fault of their own, the crime of simply not having family, they might be denied a heart due to 'non-compliance.'

People are denied because of subjective things like social and behavioral factors, but this is different than a history of non-compliance which is a specific term to state that the patient has a history of not following a prescribed treatment regimen. He obviously had behavioral risk factors and in the end the doctors were right to be pessimistic about his past behavior, but they were not right to say the had a history of non-compliance.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

People are denied because of subjective things like social and behavioral factors, but this is different than a history of non-compliance which is a specific term to state that the patient has a history of not following a prescribed treatment regimen. He obviously had behavioral risk factors and in the end the doctors were right to be pessimistic about his past behavior, but they were not right to say the had a history of non-compliance.

Yeah. It's stupid. They make the decision based on 'well, someone else did this, so we're judging YOU on it.'

[Dakine10 5,452]

Yeah. It's stupid. They make the decision based on 'well, someone else did this, so we're judging YOU on it.'

The inherent problem with subjective criteria is that they are subjective. I have a feeling if he had been from an affluent family but with similar behavior and history, it would not have been a factor.