Medical marijuana user who was denied liver transplant dies

A man who was denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana with medical approval to ease the symptoms of hepatitis C has died.

Timothy Garon, 56, died Thursday at Bailey-Boushay House, an intensive care nursing center, said his lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, and Alisha Mark, a spokeswoman for Virginia Mason Medical Center, which operates Bailey-Boushay.

His death came a week after his doctor told him a University of Washington Medical Center committee had again denied him a spot on the liver transplant list because of his use of marijuana, although it was authorized under Washington state law.

The case highlights an ethical consideration for those allocating organs for transplant: whether using dope with a doctor's blessing should be held against a dying patient in need of a transplant.

More at:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Medical_marijuana_user_who_was_deni_05022008.html

Kagen: Wins another battle in the fight against discrimination in health care “On this day, we are beginning to apply our constitutional rights to protect us against discrimination in health care so that one day very soon equal protection may mean equal treatment.Basically it is talking about a Bill to protect against genetic discrimination. H.R. 493, The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act and the underlying legislation. As a physician and a geneticist, I fully understand the critical need to prohibit discrimination based on an individual's genetic profile. But the reason I post this is because it is the first step towards preventing discrimination. U.S. Rep. Kagen: Wins another battle in the fight against discrimination in health care
5/1/2008

Contact: Jake Rubin
Office: (202) 225-5665
Cell: (202) 510-2408
jake.rubin@mail.house.gov

Pot is the only thing that gives him an appetite. If he doesn't get it he barely eats anything.

How can those people sleep at night?