‘I feel for families,’ says Inuk woman who questioned liver transplant policy
TORONTO — 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, due to small technicalities and things that could have saved so many lives,” 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.