from The Epoch Times:
A Michigan judge will soon decide if 73-year-old Ross Barranco can be denied a donated kidney because he won’t take the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I just don’t see the logic of it,” Barranco said in an interview with The Epoch Times. “Everybody knows an organ transplant procedure requires the nearly complete suppression of a recipient’s immune system so the body won’t reject it.
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“Then why do I need to be immunized against COVID before the operation?”
When asked if he thought the vaccine would make any difference in his prognosis, he replied: “Yeah, the vax can kill me.
“To qualify for a transplant, both of my kidneys have to be functioning at 20 percent or less. What if the vax destroys the remaining function before the operation? If it does, I’m done.
“The jab does absolutely nothing beneficial for a transplant patient.”
Given the current COVID-19 testing capability, it remains unclear why transplant patients can’t be tested for COVID-19 before the operation. A negative result could then green-light the procedure.
It’s also unclear why the vaccine is still being regarded by some hospitals as an immunization when data shows that numerous fully vaccinated people have contracted the virus multiple times.
Barranco’s legal team made reference to a 2021 survey of 200 transplant centers across the country.
Of the 140 that responded to the survey, only half required transplant candidates to have partaken in a COVID-19 vaccine regimen.
“The vax can hardly be deemed medically necessary if half of the responding transplant centers are not requiring it,” said Deborah Catalano, a lawyer of Liberty Counsel who is tracking hospital transplant policies and is familiar with many similar cases to that of Barranco.
Liberty Counsel is a nonprofit litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to upholding religious liberty and Christian values.
Medical questions and safety concerns aside, Barranco, a Roman Catholic, refused the vaccine on religious grounds.
He said his faith and conscience don’t permit him to receive a vaccine that he’s convinced was developed using body parts obtained from aborted babies and has fetal tissue in its ingredients.
Vax Up or Else
On Feb. 1, 2022, Barranco received what he perceived as an “ultimatum” from the University of Michigan Health Service in Ann Arbor.
“There’s an active list and a holding list for patients awaiting a transplant. At the time, I was on the holding list,” Barranco said.
“That’s when the hospital gave me three months to get three COVID shots, or they would throw me off the list entirely.
“I refused, and they threw me off. That’s when I contacted an attorney.”
Mary Clare Fischer, a public relations representative of the University of Michigan Transplant Center, outlined the hospital’s position in an email to The Epoch Times.
