A North Carolina man would rather die than get vaccinated so he can receive life-saving kidney surgery.
Chad Carswell, a double amputee who has undergone several major cardiac surgeries, desperately needs a kidney transplant. He says his kidney is only operating at about 4% and the thrice weekly dialysis is what is keeping him going, but that is only temporary.
Carswell said he went to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital where he had all kinds of scans done in the past, hoping to get a transplant, but he found out that the hospital has a policy that required him or anyone who wants to donate to be vaccinated before surgery.
Carswell told WSOC that friends and local businesses have raised the money for him to get the surgery and more than 100 people have offered to donate. But, since he will not get vaccinated, the surgery cannot move forward.
He will not change his mind.
“I was born free. I will die free. I’m not changing my mind,” Carswell told WSOC. “I’ve had conversations with my family and everybody who is close to me and they know where I stand and there will not be a situation that occurs where I’ll change my mind on this topic.”
Medical professionals have advised Carswell to get vaccinated so he can have the surgery or he will die. That is a chance he is willing to take because he said no one should be forced to make a decision about when to get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the hospital is defending their decision saying the vaccine is about protection since transplant patients are at a much higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than the average person due to their weakened immune systems.
Carswell is now looking for other hospitals in North Carolina and beyond to see if they will perform the life-saving surgery even though he’s unvaccinated.
Unreal!!! If he isn’t able to comprehend the basics of the surgery he is having and why his life and the actual use of the kidney us at stake if he got covid or anything else after surgery and died! Then he is selfish and someone else that’s willing to get vaccinated to help prevent a very real possibility of a fatal complication occurring after surgery needs to receive an organ. Hopefully someone in need of a kidney can benefit from this guys stupidity.
Get vax or “die free”
It’s very upsetting that someone is this Foolish to protect himself and others and wishes to live and not Die of Kidney Failure! He just doesn’t value his on life for Misguided Information and his Political Beliefs whatever those may be..
It’s unbelievable that a person is willing to die than save his own life over a Vaccination that will save his life and others! Obviously he doesn’t believe in the Vaccines nor this Epidemic for selfish reasons or his political beliefs whatever those are.
He will not find another hospital to do the surgery. The protocols are the same for transplant surgery across the country. There are precious few organs available for donation. The system will not give an organ to a patient who is non-compliant. Organs transplants go to patients with the highest chance of success. He knows this. I would not want my loved one’s organs transplanted into a person who would not care for this lifegiving gift.
He wasn’t denied a transplant. He chose not to have one. His choice.