by Australian health authorities have denied a mother who needed a heart transplant after she was granted a medical exemption to forego the coronavirus vaccine.
Vicki Derderian relied on ventricular assist for her failing heart after it failed in 2020. Due to her condition, she was given a medical exemption from the coronavirus vaccine to avoid the chance of getting myocarditis or pericarditis.
When the time came to receive her desperately needed heart transplant, the Victoria Department of Health and Human Services denied her. Per new york post:
Melbourne’s Vicki Derderian depends on a ventricular assist device to keep her heart working after a 2020 failure and is desperate for a transplant.
She did not receive the vaccine because she fears it could increase her risk of heart conditions such as myocarditis or pericarditis, which, while rare, can be serious.
Mrs. Derderian, a mother of two, expressed her frustration with the Victoria Department of Health and Human Services over its stance, which she characterized as “no vaccine, no heart”.
Talking to Channel 9 today’s showDerderian said vaccine mandates interfered with doctor-patient relationships.
“The hospital’s stance right now is no jab, no heart. I’m ready to get on the heart transplant list because I’m clinically stable to be on it. But unfortunately, because of these mandates, it has interfered with doctor-patient relationships,” she said.
“Patients like myself, we are being pushed into a corner and coerced into accepting something that goes against what we believe,” she added. “Or not receiving life-saving treatment. And also for doctors, they are forced to implement this on their patients, otherwise they will lose their jobs.”
Former deputy chief of health, Dr. Nick Coatsworth said the biggest risk for Derderian would be not receiving the vaccine, potentially endangering the transplanted organ.
Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne, has entered a sixth lockdown, with a state government leader blaming slow vaccine roll-out. https://t.co/8NsEOPOY4b
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 7, 2021
“From a transplant doctor’s point of view… the biggest risk to you when we hit your immune system like that, if you get Covid-19 without getting the vaccine, then there’s a really significant risk that you die and that organ dies. with you,” said Dr. Coatsworth.
“And we don’t want that to happen to you and we certainly don’t want that to happen to the family that made this sacred donation. So it’s such a complex area. I don’t envy your decision, but I respect the rules that the transplant doctors have made here,” he said.
