VANCOUVERâA B.C. government agency has apologized to a dying Indigenous man who filed a human rights complaint after he says he was told he couldnât get a life-saving liver transplant because of an alcohol abstinence policy.BC Transplant blamed the incident on a âmisunderstandingâ Thursday, saying the rule has not been in effect for months, and that David Dennis is now being assessed as a possible transplant candidate. Dennis, 42, was told by doctors that he would likely not live beyond the middle of September without a transplant. Earlier this week, he filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal over a policy he said was excluding him from the transplant list because he hasnât abstained from alcohol for six months as required by the province. The Vancouver man said heâd been sober since June. âWe apologize for any upset caused,â BC Transplant operations director Ed Ferre said in a statement Thursday, calling the incident âa misunderstanding of the guidelines and processes around liver transplantation. âWe have been in direct contact with the patient and can confirm that the process for transplant assessment is underway.âThe human rights complaint, filed jointly with the Frank Paul Society and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), said the abstinence policy discriminated against Dennis, who is of Nuu-chah-nulth ancestry, on the grounds of race, ancestry and physical disability.Read more: Indigenous man denied spot on B.C. liver-transplant list calls alcohol abstinence policy a âlethal form of racismâIt named the Ministry of Health, the Provincial Health Services Agency, Vancouver Coastal Health and the B.C. Transplant Society as respondents, and alleged the policy discriminates against Indigenous people because they have âdisproportionately higher rates of alcohol-use disorder largely due to centuries of racist and harmful colonial practices.âIn a statement Tue ...
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