A Houston hospital accused of denying organ transplants to patients who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 today told The Defender it “does not have a policy requiring transplant patients to be vaccinated against COVID-19, or any other disease, and does not deny care based on vaccination status.”
“We abide by all state laws and, as one of the largest transplant programs in the country, the safety of our patients always comes first,” Houston Methodist Hospital said in a statement.
The allegations stem from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who stated in a letter that his office may investigate Houston Methodist Hospital for allegedly denying organ transplants to patients who refused the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a letter his office sent the hospital.
The letter to Houston Methodist Hospital’s President and CEO Marc L. Boom cited a July 24 X post by Texas doctor Mary Tally Bowden. The post included a screenshot of the hospital’s transplant policy showing that patients seeking a kidney transplant must receive the COVID-19 shot.
Monday, Bowden posted Paxton’s press release on X, claiming she had “written and oral proof (recorded conversation)” that the hospital required transplant patients to get the shots. “To my knowledge, their policy has not changed,” she added.
Bowden previously worked at Houston Methodist Hospital. The hospital suspended her privileges after she prescribed ivermectin to prevent and treat COVID-19. The hospital also accused her of spreading “misinformation.”
Bowden sued Houston Methodist after hospital officials refused to provide public information about the institution’s finances during the pandemic.
In the press release issued Monday, Paxton said, “Texans looking to receive medical care should never be turned away due to arbitrary COVID-19 vaccine mandates imposed by woke medical providers.”
He added:
“Vaccine mandates as a precondition for certain life-saving treatments may not only violate new state laws that became effective on September 1, but they also violate human dignity and run contrary to foundational principles of medical ethics. That’s why I’ve requested that Houston Methodist Hospital clarify its compliance with Texas’s new laws and position on vaccine mandates.”
The hospital has 14 days to notify the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) about the steps it has taken to comply with the recently passed provision in the Texas Health and Safety Code, which prohibits denying organ transplants based on vaccination status.
The OAG said it will open a formal investigation if the hospital fails to respond.
Paxton’s office said its letter to the hospital “reaffirms Attorney General Paxton’s stance against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and reflects his commitment to protecting the rights and freedoms of Texans by challenging unlawful vaccine mandates.”
In recent years, Paxton’s office has challenged Big Pharma’s actions related to COVID-19 shots and weight-loss drugs, and has investigated toothpaste companies for deceptive marketing geared toward children.
Brenda Baletti, Ph.D., is a senior reporter for The Defender. She wrote and taught about capitalism and politics for 10 years in the writing program at Duke University. She holds a Ph.D. in human geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s from the University of Texas at Austin.
source childrenshealthdefense.org
PRINCIPIA SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL, legally registered in the UK as a company 
incorporated for charitable purposes. Head Office: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX.