Posted by Johnny Green
Patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) recently discovered that a second patient at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has been denied a transplant in the past year because of their medical marijuana use. In response, ASA sent a letter today to the Cedars-Sinai Transplant Center on behalf of Toni Trujillo, a qualified medical marijuana patient who was removed from the kidney transplant list earlier this year. Trujillo has had kidney problems for most of her life and has been on dialysis for the past 5 years, ever since an existing kidney transplant began failing. The letter urges the world-renowned hospital to promptly re-list Trujillo and change its policy with regard to medical marijuana.
Trujillo came to California 2 years ago from Pennsylvania to take advantage of the specialized treatment offered by Cedars. When she began treatment at Cedars, Trujillo explained to her physicians that she was using medical marijuana as an appetite stimulant in order to increase her protein levels, a critical need for dialysis patients. Getting no push-back from Cedars on her medical marijuana use, Trujillo continued while waiting for her transplant. Then, in April, after being on a waiting list for 6 years, Trujillo was told over the phone that she had been de-listed because her medical marijuana use was considered “substance abuse.” She was never sent a formal de-listing letter, confirming her status.
Read complete article here:
http://www.theweedblog.com/second-medical-marijuana-patient-denied-transplant-by-cedars-sinai-in-the-last-year/