A North Carolina man who desperately needs a kidney transplant claims he has been denied an operation because of his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
ABC affiliate WSOC reports Chad Carswell, a double amputee who’s in need of a kidney transplant due to it operating at 4 percent, has been forced to turn down potential donors because of a hospital policy that requires him to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to carry out the operation.
After going in for scans and tests at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Carswell was told that he would need to get vaccinated in order to receive a transplant.
“He [the doctor] said, ‘The last thing we need to talk about is your vaccination status.’ And that’s when I politely told him there was nothing really to talk about, it wasn’t up for debate and I wasn’t getting it. Then, he told me, ‘You know you’ll die if you don’t get it.’ And I said, ‘I’m willing to die,’” Carswell told WSOC.
Carswell went on to say that he’s not changing his mind despite pleas from his doctors and nurses.
“Without [a kidney transplant], there’s no telling how much longer I’ll be here, I have to have a kidney to prolong my life,” Carswell told the outlet. “I was born free. I will die free. I’m not changing my mind. I’ve had conversations with my family and everybody that’s close to me. They know where I stand, and it’ll not be a situation that occurs that I will choose to change my mind on this topic.”
In a statement to WSOC, the hospital said the policy is in place to protect those who are immunocompromised, which in this case refers to transplant patients like Carswell.
“Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s policy follows the current standard of care in the United States, which is to vaccinate all patients on waiting lists or being evaluated for transplant,” the hospital said. “We understand that some patients may not wish to be vaccinated. In this case, patients can opt to be evaluated at another transplant center.”
