Liver disease policies force call for change

An Inuk woman with acute liver failure spoke of her sadness that Canadians are dying due to rules that prevent some from receiving organ transplants, as she gave an emotional news conference Tuesday from her hospital bed.

The visibly exhausted Delilah Saunders, 26, expressed concerns that while she appears to be recovering, others with alcohol-related liver disease often aren’t allowed to go on a waiting list for transplants that will keep them alive.

“I’m really feeling for the families who have lost loved ones due to these policies,” she said at the University Health Network hospital in Toronto, where she was transferred earlier this week from Ottawa.

Saunders’ struggle has drawn support from Amnesty International and Aboriginal groups, as friends and family of the advocate for Indigenous women learned of a rule in Ontario that requires people with alcohol-related liver disease to have abstained from drinking for six months before being eligible for a transplant.

Saunders’ family has said she was told she wouldn’t be eligible due to the Ontario rule, and they have argued it’s a policy that discriminates against Indigenous citizens, the poor and other marginalized groups, while being based on shaky science.

Doctors have cited evidence that some alcoholics return to drinking after a transplant of the organ, and the transplant may not succeed as a result. They say this poses ethical issues for clinics who have other recipients in need of the organ.

Saunders’ call for more organ donations was echoed by Ronnie Gavsie, the chief executive of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, Ontario’s organ donation agency.

Gavsie said the donor agency wants to accelerate a pilot project that waives the six-month sobriety requirement. A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Health said the department expects to receive a business case for the pilot program from Trillium by February.