We very recently had a story about Timothy Garon. He was a medical marijuana patient who was in need of a liver transplant, but had been turned down due to the fact that his doctor had prescribed him medical marijuana. The "Seattle Times" is sadly reporting that Mr. Garon has passed away.

"Dr. Brad Roter, the physician who authorized Garon to smoke pot to alleviate for nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite, said he did not know it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant"

I simply can not believe that a man has died unnessiscarily due to the fact that he was legally prescribed marijuana by his physician in a state where voters had passed a law to allow its use. Please read more for how you can get involved and possibly stop this crime from happening in the future.

One of our readers let us know that he had a blog put together on the story and contact information for the "Liver Selection Commitee". Here is a sniplet from his blog on how you can get in contact with them and voice your oppinion. Before doing so please make sure that you have not only read the current story, but that you also read this blog on it, and the complete article by the AP.

 I  just spoke with a very nice and helpful person at the UW Medical Center who has given me a fax number:

Liver Selection Committee
Fax 206-598-0628

If we could all send reasonable, respectful and short messages to this fax number explaining that we disagree with legal, physician recommended medical marijuana use being used as a basis for disqualifying patients from the list to receive livers, we very well might make some positive impact on the way they think about and handle this.

I'm going to send a message like this:

"I realize that the types of decisions you have to make regarding transplants are very difficult. But at the same time, I’d like to register my sincere opinion that denying a patient a liver transplant on the basis of his or her use of legal medical marijuana as recommended by a physician is not a good decision, not a logical one, nor is it a humane one."

I strongly encourage all of you who have access to a fax machine to send a message of your own.

For those without reasonable fax access, here are some phone numbers, but be aware that last time I tried, voicemail boxes tended to be full, preventing messages from being left. If by some chance you do get through, please be respectful but firm.

UW Medical Center Division of Transplant Main Number
(206) 598-6700

UW Medical Center Transplant Services
Jorge​ D. Reyes​,​ division chief,​ 206-​543-​9738
reyesjd@u.washington.edu

Kay Wicks, director, kwicks@u.washington.edu

Liver Transplant Division
Mary Kester, clinical coordinator, 206-598-4838
Theresa Hernandez, program coordinator, 206-598-4902
JoAnn Williams, patient care coordinator, 206-598-0017