Criminal History

When it comes to denials, when a hospital considers the reasons for or against giving someone a transplant, they will inevitably settle on one in particular. If a patient in need of a liver does not stop drinking, the transplant may be denied. Similarly, a lung transplant recipient will be denied if they continue to smoke. However, they will occasionally provide more esoteric reasons, such as "noncompliance."

In the context of organ transplantation, this can mean a variety of things, such as apprehension that the patient will not follow through on steps to ensure a healthy recovery after the procedure. Noncompliance was the reason Anthony Stokes, then 15, was denied a life-saving heart transplant in 2013. It meant that the boy had a history of poor grades and time spent in juvenile detention. In other words, the hospital refused to save his life because he had a criminal record. At age 15.

After the story went viral, the hospital miraculously reconsidered its stance and changed its mind. The boy, who had been given six months to live, was given surgery and a transplant. Stokes died in a car crash two years later after fleeing police in a final tragic twist.