Trillium misunderstands objection to transplant rule

Re: The organ donation system does not discriminate, Dec. 20.

Rabbi Dr. Reuven Bulka, chair of the board of directors for the Trillium Gift of Life Network, responded this week to Amnesty International’s concerns about Ontario’s policy denying people who have misused alcohol or illicit drugs from eligibility for liver transplants unless they have abstained for at least six months. He appears to misunderstand the nature of our concerns.

He writes “ethnicity, gender and race are never, I repeat, never, a factor” in determining eligibility for a transplant in Ontario. We made no such allegation, although we did note that Delilah Saunders is an Indigenous woman. Our concern is that the current policy discriminates on the basis of health status, notably alcoholism, which is impermissible under Ontario’s international human rights legal obligations. That is the problem with the current policy, and it must be amended.

Rabbi Bulka also implies that advocates for Delilah Saunders seek preferential treatment for her and that she should effectively be bumped to the front of the line. That, too, is not the case. Amnesty has recommended that all individuals in her position be assessed for transplant eligibility on a non-discriminatory basis, relying on medical expertise and scientific fact. The discriminatory six-month policy which Rabbi Bulka defends prevents that from happening. Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada