Woman who was denied a liver transplant, after review highlighted alcohol use, has died
CTV
Questions are being raised about the case of a 36-year-old Ontario woman who died of liver failure after she was rejected for a life-saving liver transplant after a medical review highlighted her prior alcohol use.
Questions are being raised about the case of a 36-year-old Ontario woman who died of liver failure after she was rejected for a life-saving transplant following a medical review that highlighted her prior alcohol use.
Amanda Huska died Aug. 15 after spending six months in an Oakville, Ont. hospital. She had been referred for an urgent liver transplant to the University Health Network Transplant unit in March. However, documents show the Alcohol Liver Disease (ALD) team at UHN rejected her in part because of "minimal abstinence outside of hospital."
Her partner Nathan Allan says he and her physicians petitioned four times for permission to get her a transplant, the only treatment that would possibly save her life. Huska, he said, stopped drinking as soon as she was diagnosed with Alcohol Liver Disease on March 3 and had also registered for an alcohol cessation program to begin once she was discharged.
"She wanted to live," he said. "This was a wake-up call for her, and she wanted to turn her life around."
Livers from deceased donors are a scarce resource and there are strict criteria based on physical and mental criteria for deciding who is a candidate according to transplant guidelines across the country.
One of her doctors, who asked not to be identified, told CTV News that the repeated rejections were distressing.
"No amount of determination from the (partner) could bend the decision,” said the physician. “There was no process for a second review or appeal. Just a harsh finality ... goodbye."
