FORMER DRUG USER SUES FOR NEW LIVER

Caught in a legal and ethical trap stemming from his history of drug abuse,
a dying Mountain View man is running out of time in his fight to get
Stanford University Hospital to offer him a chance for a liver transplant.

Given less than two months to live if he does not get a new liver, Jonothan
Harris filed suit last month in Santa Clara County Superior Court seeking
to force Stanford to put him on its list of eligible transplant recipients.
The hospital rejected Harris as a liver transplant candidate in May because
of his history of heroin addiction and worries that he has not abstained
from drug use, according to court records.

The suit, which raises broad questions about a hospital's right to deny
transplant eligibility based on substance abuse, alleges that Stanford has
an arbitrary organ transplant review system that violates state health and
safety laws.

In particular, the suit maintains that in denying Harris eligibility for a
liver transplant, Stanford violated a law that forbids refusing medical
treatment based on physical or mental disabilities; Harris' lawyers argue
in court papers that drug addiction is a mental disability.

Menlo Park attorney Robin Pou, who represents Harris, declined comment.
Through his lawyers, Harris also declined comment. But in court papers,
Harris and his lawyers attempt to depict a man who should be considered for
the medical treatment.

``By declining plaintiff (as a transplant candidate), Stanford has
effectively issued a death sentence,'' Pou wrote in court papers.

Stanford, however, staunchly defends its procedures and its decision.

In court papers, including numerous declarations submitted by top officials
in the hospital's liver transplant program, the hospital states that
available organ donors are at a premium and drug abuse is a valid issue to
consider in evaluating a potential recipient.

``(The) plaintiff is a heroin addict who has a long history of abuse of
multiple drugs,'' the hospital's lawyers wrote in court papers. ``Under the
selection criteria, which are within the accepted standards of medical
practice, (the hospital) simply found (the) plaintiff a medically
inappropriate candidate for its liver transplant program.''

San Jose attorney David Sheuerman, who represents the hospital, said Friday
that Harris already appears resigned that he will have to pursue his fight
outside the courts. A judge was scheduled last week to hear arguments in
the case, but Pou agreed to postpone the hearing, court papers show.

``I believe it's over,'' Sheuerman said of the court case.

``In general, there are people out there who have been addicts in the past
who are deemed appropriate people to get organs,'' he added. ``If they show
they have gotten themselves into a condition where they've got a good
prognosis to use the organ, they will be, by most places in the country,
considered (for a transplant).''

One of the central issues for Harris is whether he has moved past his
history of heroin addiction.

Harris, 53, a writer of genealogical histories, is identified in court
papers as having struggled with drug abuse since the mid-1970s. While he
has been in rehabilitation programs for years, he admits several relapses,
including one last year.

In a declaration, Harris calls himself ``a recovering drug abuser.'' As a
result, he faces an uphill fight to get the lifesaving procedure.

The United Network for Organ Sharing, the agency that sets nationwide
transplant policy, two years ago determined that people with liver failure
of the type associated with alcohol and drug abuse should not get priority
over patients with a better chance of survival.

To Stanford transplant officials, Harris is simply too much of a risk --
particularly in view of the fact that 300 people are on Stanford's waiting
list for a liver transplant, a 12-fold increase since the program began
eight years ago, said Emmet Keeffe, medical director of the liver
transplant program.

Stanford submitted a declaration from UC-San Francisco medical officials
saying their program would have denied eligibility under the same
circumstances. Harris states in court papers that he also was recently
denied consideration by the transplant program at UC-Davis.

Harris was diagnosed with cirrhosis, a life-threatening liver disease,
three years ago. A selection committee at Stanford University Hospital
concluded this spring he did not meet the program's eligibility
requirements.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski