A U.S. advocacy group is providing legal intervention on behalf of a U.S. patient being denied a kidney transplant for not receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.According to the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, is illegally attempting to mandate vaccination for a woman in desperate need of a kidney transplant. The hospital is refusing to approve the transplant until the patient agrees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.Section 151:21 of the New Hampshire Patients’ Bill of Rights states that a “patient shall not be denied admission, care, or services based solely on the patient’s vaccination status.”Attorneys for the ICAN have informed the hospital in writing that it is in direct violation of the law. The patient, who has just 12% kidney function, is also required to take a shingles vaccine, and two rounds of the hepatitis B vaccine.The legal warning letter, addressed to four doctors at the facility on December 27, 2024, reminded recipients of its publicly-stated pledge to honour patient rights."Your website... states that DHMC 'strive[s] to preserve [patients’] rights as an individual' and links to the NH Patient’s Bill of Rights. Thus, DHMC’s denial of organ transplant services to [name redacted] , based on her refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, is clearly in violation of state law. As such, we strongly encourage you to reconsider your position regarding [the] kidney transplant. If DHMC refuses, is prepared to pursue any and all legal recourse available to her."ICAN expressed disbelief in an email blast to supporters that invited donations."It’s hard to believe this is still happening in 2025 — nearly 20 months after the federal COVID-19 public health emergency declaration ended — but rest assured that ICAN will continue to protect the rights of the unvaccinated until all of these senseless and draconian mandates that violate informed consent are ended," the email read.The case echoes that of Alberta patient Sheila Annette Lewis, who was diagnosed with a terminal condition in 2018. She was placed on a transplant wait list in 2020, but was informed a year later she would need to get the COVID-19 vaccine first, which she refused.The case was dismissed by an Alberta court, which said the Charter did not apply to clinical treatment decisions. The Supreme Court also turned down her application for a hearing. A publication ban hides the doctors’ identities, the organ involved, and the location of the transplant program.
