You can't become an opiate addict without first using opiates, so it's important to ask why he was using opiates in the first place. If he was prescribed painkillers and his addiction was an adverse reaction to their use then that would make it less of a deal breaker, but the hospital might still be right to give the lung to somebody else.
Because it makes no sense to give a lung transplant to someone actively destroying their body. It's not like there's an excess of spare lungs, so they might as well be thrown away to opiate addicts. Same with smokers, who should join them at the very back of the line.
Daily use of opiates is not harmful to the general health. The horror stories most people are familiar with involve unsterile injection of street concoctions, anything from bathtub fentanyl to baby powder.
Lifelong oral users (and even users who inject using sterile technique) of pharmaceutical grade opiates can and do live long productive lives.
I've read a lot of stories by long term opiate users, and the things they've said about it have made me pretty biased. I've had opiates a few times, and nothing about being opiated seems very attractive.
You can't become an opiate addict without first using opiates, so it's important to ask why he was using opiates in the first place. If he was prescribed painkillers and his addiction was an adverse reaction to their use then that would make it less of a deal breaker, but the hospital might still be right to give the lung to somebody else.
Why deny someone a lung transplant merely because he's an addict? It is an idiotic moral judgment that is totally irrelevant.
If someone damaged an organ by shooting up contaminated street drugs, that's one thing.
But merely being an opiate addict is NOT an ethical reason to deny treatment.
Because it makes no sense to give a lung transplant to someone actively destroying their body. It's not like there's an excess of spare lungs, so they might as well be thrown away to opiate addicts. Same with smokers, who should join them at the very back of the line.
Daily use of opiates is not harmful to the general health. The horror stories most people are familiar with involve unsterile injection of street concoctions, anything from bathtub fentanyl to baby powder.
Lifelong oral users (and even users who inject using sterile technique) of pharmaceutical grade opiates can and do live long productive lives.
I've read a lot of stories by long term opiate users, and the things they've said about it have made me pretty biased. I've had opiates a few times, and nothing about being opiated seems very attractive.