PHILADELPHIA -- The parents of a three-year-old New Jersey girl say she's being denied a kidney transplant because of her mental disabilities, but experts caution that the issue could be more complex.
Chrissy Rivera posted a blog entry last week saying a doctor at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia told her and her husband that their daughter wouldn't be eligible for a transplant because of her mental condition. Their child, Amelia, was born with the rare genetic defect Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.
Another mother of two severely autistic boys saw the blog posting and began an online petition, signed by more than 23,700 people.
But medical experts say issues such as a shortage of children's kidneys, long transplant waiting lists and disagreements over transplants for severely mentally disabled people could make the issue complicated.
(Associated Press)