Not Unusual For Doctors To Refuse Unvaccinated Patients
The Claim
The UMass Memorial Health Center refused to conduct a kidney transplant because the patient refused to get vaccinated.
News posted on
Emerging story
A recent report on LifesiteNews claimed that a man named Bernard LaPierre’s kidney transplant was conditional upon him taking an “experimental” coronavirus vaccine. The article explained that LaPierre had been scheduled to receive a kidney from his wife, but the hospital told him that he had to undertake a range of vaccinations before the procedure, including the coronavirus vaccine. LaPierre informed them that he would not take the coronavirus vaccine, and the hospital refused to perform the operation.
This article then circulated on social media, with posts gaining dozens and, in at least one instance, hundreds of interactions.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that it is not unusual for a hospital system to refuse to treat a patient for being unvaccinated. It is legal for doctors to refuse to treat unvaccinated patients in most instances. We have identified numerous instances of this occurrence, which is done for the safety of a health system’s entire patient population as well as for the patient. This is because the risks of infection are far greater than any vaccine.
The source article is burying a key piece of news that makes the story significantly less sensational. Meagan LaPierre revealed to the source that she and her husband have located two other hospitals that are willing to conduct the kidney transplant, even if the patient is unvaccinated.
Additionally, the source states that the hospital’s public relations coordinator told them that LaPierre had ultimately agreed to get vaccinated. This may not contradict Meagan LaPierre’s statement, as the couple may have agreed to get vaccinated until they discovered another option that they found preferable.
As Medpage highlights, prioritizing surgical patients to get vaccinated against coronavirus is a lifesaving action. The source references a report that giving surgical patients coronavirus vaccines has the potential to avert 56,000 COVID-19 deaths. The reason for this figure is due to the fact that surgical patients who contact coronavirus 30 days after surgery are four to eight times more likely to die of the virus.
It is incorrect for LifesiteNews to state that the vaccines are experimental. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention makes clear, the coronavirus vaccines are safe and effective. The vaccines were tested upon tens of thousands of people in clinical trials. Serious safety issues with the vaccines are incredibly rare. By July 19th, 338 million doses of coronavirus vaccines had been administered within the U.S. To date, three deaths are suspected to have been linked to vaccines, with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine being implicated in all three. No deaths have been linked to the other two vaccines in use in the U.S. The Umass Memorial Health Center always offers vaccine recipients the option of taking any of the available COVID-19 vaccines.
