The man who was denied from receiving a heart transplant due to not getting the Covid-19 vaccine, health is deteriorating quickly according to those who are closest with him. DJ Fergeson,31, who made national headlines after his name was taken off the heart transplant list due to his vaccination status was left fighting for his life earlier this week after he underwent emergency open-heart surgery.
Ferguson was admitted into the Brigham and Women’s Hospital after he suffered from heart failure several years after being diagnosed with arrhythmia. Ferguson was on top of the heart transplant list but was immediately taken off the list after hospital staff noticed he wasn’t vaccinated.
In order to save his life doctors had to perform open-heart surgery and implanted a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) which is a mechanical pump to keep the heart beating.
The family of a man who is being denied a heart transplant because of his vaccination status describe the ordeal: "We're devastated by the news."
Read more: https://t.co/6BRrE60JGT pic.twitter.com/h4ha5beHx3
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) January 27, 2022
Ferguson’s girlfriend Heather Dawson was quoted saying:
“It’s terrible. It sucks because his nurses are amazing. They have been amazing to him. His doctors have been amazing to him. But having that dangled over our head at the very last minute after he had been through all the testing, after he received his letter saying that he was accepted onto the transplant list, it is just so disheartening that they would hang this over his head right at the last moment,”
According to DJ’s father David Ferguson, the reason why his son is refusing to get vaccinated is that it’s against his set of values. DJ doesn’t believe people should be forced to get vaccinated but rather he believes it should be up to an individual whether they get vaccinated or not.
DJ’s mother also has major concern for her son and has gone on record saying is completely torn up about her son being denied a heart transplant.
Brigham and Women’s released a statement to CBS Boston stating why they aren’t giving Ferguson a heart transplant:
“And like many other transplant programs in the United States – the COVID-19 vaccine is one of several vaccines and lifestyle behaviors required for transplant candidates in the Mass General Brigham system in order to create both the best chance for a successful operation and also the patient’s survival after transplantation.”
Now with his new LVAD pump, Ferguson can no longer get showers or swim. The device will also only give him a time span of five years to live. Although the new mechanical pump is a big improvement to his current heart condition, doctors and family member believe this is not enough, and Ferguson’s health will continue to get worse unless he has a heart transplant.
OAN complains that doctors denied a heart transplant to an unvaccinated man because it would be a waste if he then dies of COVID-19, even though "obesity, a serious co-morbidity to COVID, does not bar a potential recipient from receiving a transplant." pic.twitter.com/r5SaYM8pUe
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) January 28, 2022
It appears hospitals in the United States are clinging to policies instead of saving lives. This is a situation where Fergeson is being denied entry into a restaurant, gym, or concert venue but Brigham and Women’s hospital is taking away his number one freedom and that’s his right life.
Ferguson has the same spirit as another Massachusetts man who would rather die than have his freedom be taken away, and that was legendary spy Nathan Hale, who was once quoted saying, “Give me liberty or give me death”.