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SALT LAKE CITY -- While former Vice President Dick Cheney recovers in a Virginia hospital from a weekend heart transplant, many people on the same national waiting list question whether he got special treatment.
KSL spoke to a Utah woman who believes Cheney jumped the line, while her husband was told he was too old for a transplant.
More than 3,000 Americans are on the national waiting list for a heart transplant. Every year, hundreds die waiting.
Related
Dick Cheney's transplant reopens debate about age
Doctors say it is unlikely that former Vice President Dick Cheney got special treatment when he was given a new heart at age 71 that thousands of younger people also were in line to receive. Still, his case reopens debate about whether rules should be changed to favor youth over age in giving out scarce organs.When a patient Cheney's age gets such a scarce life-extending organ, questions surface about whether a younger patient should have received that heart.
At 71 years old, Cheney spent 20 months on a waiting list before his successful heart transplant surgery -- longer than most patients.
"I was really upset. I had 1 million questions flying to my mind. Why, why, why?" said Mary Mahoney. "Why does (Cheney) get it when hundreds of other people in his same age range are told they're not eligible?"
Mahoney says she cannot understand why her husband, Rob - who just turned 73 - was told the cutoff age for a transplant was 65. Rob is on a life-saving artificial heart pump.
Mahoney is part of a Facebook group where dozens of other heart patients asked the same questions. One of the posts reads, "I can't believe he got a transplant. I guess it's not too surprising; politics as usual."
"How unfair to all the others that are told they're not eligible," reads another.
Transplant Trends
| Waiting list candidates as of 3/26/12 | 113,621 |
| Active waiting list candidates as of 3/26/12 | 72,784 |
| Transplants from January through December 2011 | 28,535 |
| Donors from January through December 2011 | 14,145 |
But Dr. David Bull, the chief of cardio-thoracic surgery at the University of Utah Medical Center, is confident there is no way to jump the line, no matter who you are.
"There's not a way to get preferential treatment in the way the system is constructed," he said.
Bull says there's transparency throughout the process. Individual hospitals report to a national database, and the vice president would not have been listed if he was not a good transplant candidate.
Bull also says there's no absolute upper age limit.
"It's done on a patient-by-patient basis, so if the treating physicians feel as though the patient is an appropriate candidate, they can be listed," he said.
The fact that Cheney had already suffered five heart attacks moved him up.
"The sicker you are, the higher priority you become to receive a heart transplant," Bull said. "The national agencies that oversee this really strive to make the system fair, because they're aware this is a very limited precious resource."
More than 325 people die each year waiting for a heart. When a transplant becomes available, doctors check to see who is a good match and in highest medical need. The heart is offered locally, then regionally and finally nationally until a match is made.
