A 15-year-old boy receiving treatment at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston in Georgia has less than six months to live, but doctors say he doesn't qualify for a transplant due to "a history of non-compliance."
Anthony Stokes, who has an enlarged heart, is in desperate need of a transplant, but bad grades and some minor trouble with the law led doctors to conclude they "don’t have any evidence that he would take his medicine or that he would go to his follow-ups."
"They've given him a death sentence," said Christine Young Brown, a representative of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta issued a statement, saying, "The well-being of our patients is always our first priority. We are continuing to work with this family and looking at all options regarding this patient's health care. We follow very specific criteria in determining eligibility for a transplant of any kind."
But Stokes family friend Mack Major doesn't believe it. "The non-compliance is fabricating, because they don’t want to give him a heart," Major said. He added that it's unacceptable that Stokes "must lose his life because of a non-compliance."
"I know it's wrong," said the boy's mother, Melencia Hamilton, of the decision to deny Stokes a transplant. "Because if they get to know him, they would love him."
