9-Year-Old Denied Kidney Transplant Because Dad Donating Kidney is Unvaccinated Against COVID-19

9-year-old Tanner Donaldson has stage 5 chronic kidney disease and desperately needs a kidney transplant.

Miraculously, his father, Dane, is a perfect match to donate one of his kidneys.

Cleveland Children’s Hospital approved the transplant in 2018, but the administration reversed its decision once instituting a policy for all donors to be inoculated against COVID-19.

Not about science. About control. There is ZERO scientific justification for this. Furthermore, these kind of tyrannical decisions are what is COSTING LIVES, not saving them.

9-Year-Old Boy Denied Kidney Transplant Because Donor Dad Isn't Vaccinatedhttps://t.co/4rs9lr2jxd

— Patriotic Trauma, MD (@PatrioticTrauma) February 25, 2022

https://twitter.com/Heachy_1979/status/1496578436604866560

9-year-old Tanner Donaldson denied kidney transplant because the donor, who is his father, has not gotten the Covid shot. There is a special place in hell for people like this.https://t.co/l7CcfC1aJe

— JustInCaseYourCrazy (@movingFWD1274) February 22, 2022

UNCOVERDC reported:

In disbelief of the hospital’s flawed morality, on Jan. 13, ICAN attorney Aaron Siri sent a letter to the Cleveland Clinic for Bioethics within the Cleveland Children’s Hospital declaring that “in any other year,” Tanner would be post-op and on the road to recovery. He contends it is unethical for the hospital (which received $113,956,124 in funding from the NIH in 2021) to refuse treatment to Tanner because it believes the risk is more significant that he might contract COVID-19 from the transplant rather than the real, actual impending danger of renal failure due to Stage 5 kidney disease. Addressing the hospital’s Interim Director Jane Jankowski, DPS, Siri wrote:

The Hospital’s primary concern should be patient care, and that care should be science-driven. As the Director of Bioethics, your job is to weigh the ethics of a given situation. Presently, it appears the Hospital is operating under a psychosis of flawed morality in choosing to sacrifice the health and wellness of its 9-year-old patient in exchange for what it perceives to be the “greater good.”

The Hospital’s expectation, that the Donaldsons should ignore their legitimate questions and concerns regarding a novel therapy for the prevention of disease, particularly when the entire family has already contracted and recovered from the disease, goes against one of the most fundamental tenets of medical ethics— informed consent. Given your role, we believe that such a disregard of core ethical conventions warrants your immediate attention and concern.

Tanner was born with a rare birth defect called posterior urethral valves (PUV).

His condition caused irreversible kidney damage in utero and resulted in bladder and urinary dysfunctions.

Before his birth, Tanner’s parents learned from kidney specialists that a kidney transplant would be inevitable in his life.

Cleveland Children’s Hospital approved Tanner for a pre-emptive kidney transplant in 2017, and doctors informed the Donaldsons that the ideal scenario would be a family member as a match.

After a series of tests in early 2018, they learned that Dane was a match for the transplant.

UNCOVERDC described Dane’s preparations for the kidney transplant for his son:

Leading up to the transplant, the Donaldsons—who would do anything for their son—have worked tirelessly to follow detailed catheterization procedures to preserve what kidney function Tanner does have for as long as possible. While awaiting the transplant, the regimen they’ve followed has allowed Tanner to live his life with some sense of normalcy. Siri points out they have complied with monthly lab work, quarterly follow-up visits, and annual transplant testing.

In preparation for Tanner’s transplant, Dane wholly altered his diet and lifestyle “so that his son would get the kidney he needs to have not only the childhood but the life he deserves.” Dane’s faithful choices to his body and health align with his decision to decline the COVID-19 “vaccine,” which he did from a reflective position regarding his seriously held religious beliefs. Additionally, as someone who has recovered from and now has robust natural immunity to COVID-19, Dane also paid close attention to the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. 

ICAN provided this update:

Unfortunately, despite the Donaldsons’ pleas for the Hospital to make an exception, the Hospital has refused to budge – this despite the fact that Dane has natural immunity to COVID-19 which, as ICAN has repeatedly pointed out, is far superior to vaccine-induced immunity. The Hospital appears to be operating under a psychosis of flawed morality in choosing to sacrifice the health and wellness of a 9-year-old patient in exchange for what it perceives to be the “greater good.” The magnitude of the injustice of this situation for Tanner is hard to capture in words. After a grueling 4-year journey, Tanner, who is now entering stage 5 kidney disease, is having what may be his only chance at living a full life put at risk by an arbitrary and incredibly unethical new Hospital policy.

ICAN has urged the Hospital to cease its attempt to coerce Tanner’s parents into making an impossible choice between known harm or likely future harm by the very individuals who swear an oath to “Do no harm.”  We will continue to keep you updated in the fight for Tanner’s kidney transplant and, in the meantime, you can read the full letter from ICAN’s attorneys here.

Tanner’s case is one of several that involves hospitals denying transplants to prospective recipients who haven’t taken the COVID-19 jab.

WeLoveTrump reported on a veteran with natural immunity denied a kidney transplant and a father of three refused a heart transplant:

Veteran Denied Kidney Transplant for Refusing COVID-19 Jab: Has Natural Immunity and Given Remdesivir

Father of Three Removed From Heart Transplant List for Refusing COVID Vaccine