Mr. F. is a fifty-year-old father of two school-aged
daughters. Six years ago, he received a double lung transplant because he was
suffering from interstitial lung disease, a fatal illness that causes
suffocation by progressive scarring of the lungs. He is now experiencing
chronic rejection of the transplant and is being considered to receive another.
Without it, he is expected to survive only a year and a half. With it, his
prognosis will improve, but the numbers are still not good.
Three years after his lung transplant, Mr. F. stopped
attending his office visits. For a period of sixteen months he went without the
studies and attention essential to posttransplant care. He stopped performing
the required daily self-monitoring of his lung function about eight months
after his transplant, but he has maintained a regular exercise regimen. While
lost to follow-up, he continued to take his immunosuppressant medications, but
he stopped taking medicine to control his high blood pressure because of its
expense.
Since his initial lung transplant, his wife has left
him, and he is raising his children on his own. He lives two hours from the
transplant center, making it difficult to get there while acting as primary
caregiver for his children. Since returning to the clinic, Mr. F. has not
missed any appointments. Should the team grant Mr. F. a second transplant?
Mr. F. is a fifty-year-old father of two school-aged
daughters. Six years ago, he received a double lung transplant because he was
suffering from interstitial lung disease, a fatal illness that causes
suffocation by progressive scarring of the lungs. He is now experiencing
chronic rejection of the transplant and is being considered to receive another.
Without it, he is expected to survive only a year and a half. With it, his
prognosis will improve, but the numbers are still not good.
Three years after his lung transplant, Mr. F. stopped
attending his office visits. For a period of sixteen months he went without the
studies and attention essential to posttransplant care. He stopped performing
the required daily self-monitoring of his lung function about eight months
after his transplant, but he has maintained a regular exercise regimen. While
lost to follow-up, he continued to take his immunosuppressant medications, but
he stopped taking medicine to control his high blood pressure because of its
expense.
Since his initial lung transplant, his wife has left
him, and he is raising his children on his own. He lives two hours from the
transplant center, making it difficult to get there while acting as primary
caregiver for his children. Since returning to the clinic, Mr. F. has not
missed any appointments. Should the team grant Mr. F. a second transplant?