(Newswire.net — April 2, 2015) Roswell, GA — Two years ago, doctors refused to put 17 year old Anthony Stokes on a heart transplant list because of his problems with the law. When Anthony’s mother spoke out to the media, the public accused the doctors of being discriminatory towards black people, full of prejudice and unjust.
Under public pressure, doctors gave Anthony a new heart and a chance to live a normal life. Two years later, the teen died in a car crash following a carjacking and high speed police chase.
Reportedly, Anthony Stokes suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart disease that often leads to heart failure. When he was admitted into a local hospital, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, he was wearing a heart monitor attached to his ankle.
Anthony received a transplant replacing his failing heart in August 2013. Doctors agreed that the only thing that could save his life would be a heart transplant; however, there is always a long waiting list and the decision of who gets put on the list is a tough one. That’s why the criteria is high and often seems unjust for the families of those who don’t make it on the list.
In the case of Anthony Stokes, his record of aggressive behavior and problems with the law disqualified him from the heart transplant program. In addition, doctors argued that Anthony had a history of misconduct behavior and heart transplantation demands a slow disciplined recovery with strict rules of medication and a series of follow-up appointments. The doctors rejected Anthony, however, his mother disagreed.
Mrs. Stokes told the media that doctors made a racially driven decision. She accused doctors of being discriminative “because he was poor, black and had trouble with the law.”
Under huge pressure from the media and the public, the clinic had to change their decision and the doctors changed the priorities and placed Anthony on the heart transplant list in August of 2013.
Two years later, the police recieved a call from an 81 year old woman claiming a masked man came into her home, fired a shot at her, then stormed out. According to the police, Anthony then hijacked a car and crashed it a few miles away after hitting a pedestrian. Firefighters got the teen out of the car, but he later died in the hospital. The pedestrian, Clementina Hernandez, is stable and in good condition.