Are children with 47 chromosomes worth less than children with 46? Are children with behavioral or intellectual defects worth less than those with "normal" behaviors? Should children with special needs be denied their lives simply because they have a disability? Many hospitals around the country believe so.

Children living with disabilities in the U.S. are often denied organ transplants, or even the chance to be placed on the waitlist for organs, by hospital boards around the country. Decisions made by these boards are often based on incomplete medical records, faulty science, or simply the belief that these children’s lives are not worth saving. Families are told that because of their child’s disability they do not qualify for transplants or would not survive the operation -- even when the child’s condition has no documented effect on their immune system or ability to fight off infections. 

I believe that this practice is discrimination, plain and simple.

Children with special needs should not be denied medical care simply because they are different. That is why I am calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the American Medical Association, to release new recommendations for hospitals and transplant boards to use when considering special needs children.

Please join us in our fight against discrimination against children living with disabilities.