Biden’s federal vaccine mandates continue to affect citizens nationwide, including federal employees, healthcare workers, teachers, and more recently, individuals with terminal diseases on organ transplant waiting lists.
A Colorado woman and her friend, who is a willing donor, are reportedly both being doing denied lifesaving medical treatment by the state’s UC Health facility because they are unvaccinated, the two first told Fox News.
Leilani Lutani and her friend, Jaimee Fougner, are in no rush to get the inoculation because they believe the COVID vaccinations go against their religious beliefs, also citing, “too many unknowns.”
Lutani, who is being denied treatment because of her vaccination status, is suffering from stage five renal failure, an illness that can be fatal if left untreated. However, her faith and personal values are something she is unwilling to compromise on.
Fougner, the willing donor, is trying to ensure she is able to donate her kidney directly to her friend, hoping to avoid the slow and lengthy process composed of a waiting list where individuals sometimes wait years to receive a potential transplant.
Nevertheless, the University of Colorado hospital reportedly threatened to place Lutani in “inactive” status on the “kidney transplant waiting list” if she does not comply with the ultimatum to receive the COVID vaccine doses within 30 days, despite the fact that her friend already volunteered to offer her the lifesaving organ.
“It’s your choice on what treatment you have. In Leilani’s case, the choice has been taken from her. Her life has now been held hostage because of this mandate,” Fougner told CBS4 Denver.
Unfortunately, many health care providers and governmental agencies are either ignoring or outright denying this legitimacy.
The letter reportedly sent to Lutani from University of Colorado Health reads as follows:
UC Health officials told NPR the vaccination requirements are to prevent increased mortality rates among organ transplant patients that take immune-suppressing medications while recovering. UC Health recently implemented these new guidelines, shortly after the federal mandate implemented by the Biden administration.
However, it appears that transplant facilities differ with rules regarding organ transplant waiting list requirements. Both the Mayo Clinic, Sentara Healthcare, and the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine are recommending, but not requiring the vaccine in order to receive a necessary transplant.
Lutali and her potential donor are now on the search for another hospital nationwide, possibly in Florida or Texas, that will allow them to undergo the lifesaving surgery.