Human rights organizations in Canada are calling for the end of a policy that requires potential liver transplant recipients be sober for six months to be eligible for a transplant due to claims that it discriminates against “marginalized” groups, such as indigenous people.
In early December, Amnesty International Canada took up the cause of Delilah Saunders, an indigenous rights activist and artist who was denied a liver transplant because she was not six months sober. According to CBC News, the Trillium Gift of Life Network, which coordinates organ transplants in the Ontario area, requires liver transplant recipients abstain from using alcohol and/or illegal drugs within six months of their transplant.
While Saunders has said she has been struggling with her sobriety recently in the wake of her sister’s death, Amnesty International’s press release on her claims that Saunder was denied because of her acetaminophen usage, not because of her history with alcoholism.
Why Delilah Saunders believes she should get a liver transplant https://t.co/fR9vnXKoSP pic.twitter.com/IjIXK1H4Rs
— CBC Indigenous (@CBCIndigenous) December 20, 2017
Regardless, Amnesty International Canada’s website claims the policy of requiring people stay sober for six months before receiving a new liver disproportionately impacts people who are poor or “otherwise marginalized”:
The "six months sober" policy de facto bumps people with addiction issues to the back of the line, denying people with a history of alcohol use—including people living in poverty or who are otherwise marginalized—from accessing life-saving medical care on an equal and non-discriminatory basis.
The Ontario Native Women’s Association has also taken up Saunders’ cause, claiming the policy is an example of discrimination against indigenous people and colonialism:
I am writing to you regarding my concern for Delilah Saunders, a 26-year old Inuk woman seeking access to a life-saving liver transplant in Ontario, and more broadly on the experience of unique systemic discrimination in the health care system in Ontario, which Indigenous women and girls experience.
Denying imperative healthcare on the basis of prior or current health status, including conditions resulting from the consumption of alcohol, is unacceptable. As Amnesty International noted last week, denying this necessary treatment to Delilah is both “discriminatory and inconsistent with Canada’s international human rights obligations.” Particularly concerning is the fact that Delilah’s health was compromised previously by acetaminophen, which she used to cope with pain stemming from poor dental health, caused by limited access to adequate dental care in her home province (Newfoundland and Labrador).
Heartbreakingly, her relapse into alcohol use was triggered by her traumatic experience testifying at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in October. There were too few adequate services available to her after her testimony in Membertou. Given Ontario’s commitment to reconciliation and improving outcomes for Indigenous women and girls, the Province’s move to avoid the provision of necessary supports for Delilah is alarming.
Additionally, Delilah’s specific case is emblematic of broader health inequity experienced by Indigenous peoples in Ontario, namely that Indigenous people experience disproportionately poor health outcomes caused by the continuing impact of colonialism on their lives.
A Change.org petition urging the TGLN to accept Saunders as a liver transplant recipient also claims discriminates against indigenous people:
she is Inuit and an Indigenous person, and that the Trillium Gift of Life Network policy is systemic discrimination based on ethnic origin given that it affects Indigenous people disproportionately, considering many suffer from Substance Use Disorder as a consequence of intergenerational trauma inflicted by residential schools, for which the Government of Canada has apologized;
In a statement to CBC News, TGLN said the six-month sobriety period was instituted under the advice of physicians. However, TGLN will be reviewing to see whether there is a “evidence-based basis” for the policy. In September, a report by CTVNews claimed that the sobriety rule had been lifted, although it is unclear if it was implemented again the pilot program.
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