Transplant Eligibility Process

Does the Mayo Clinic have the 6 month rule that requires addicts to be 6 months in recovery and complete some type of addiction program (e.g., IOP) before they'll start the eligibility process?

My 24-year-old son was a patient at Vanderbilt in Tennessee and desperately needed a liver transplant. He was not allowed to start the eligibility process until he was 90 days in recovery and completed an IOP. He didn't have that kind of time to wait to start the eligibility process. He died on 2/23/2023. He shouldn't be dead. Per the AMA, substance abuse addiction is classified as a disease just like heart disease, cancer, and other diseases yet addicts are turned away and told to fix their disease and then "we'll talk and 'maybe' start the eligibility process".

The NIH is opposed to the 6 month rule or any rule. The NIH states that if a patient needs lifesaving surgery, doctors have an ethical responsibility to provide the lifesaving surgery yet many doctors ignore their ethical responsibility. It's time to change the transplant process and treat addicts the same as non-addicts. Facilities shouldn't have a 6 month rule or any rule. Instead there should be post op processes to help addicts get into recovery.

Johns Hopkins is an example of a facility that has no rule and instead has suggested post op processes to help addicts get into recovery. Johns Hopkins provides lifesaving surgery to addicts. Johns Hopkins considers an addict's life to be just as valuable as a non-addict.