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| Kidney Transplant Controversial |
| By The Arizona Phoenix |
| Published: 12/05/2005 |
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Scott Ray Stahl, inmate number 128-150, looks like any other inmate, but Stahl is dying. He's trying to save his own life by asking the taxpayer to pay for a kidney transplant. Letha Jones is Stahl's mother. She's trying to help her son, but she doesn't get much sympathy. Stahl is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. Ten years ago, Stahl was implicated in a fatal shooting in Sierra Vista. Dawn Struse says, "He was disguised. He had black paint on his face." None of the witnesses could place Stahl at the crime scene, but he was convicted under Arizona's felony murder law. He still claims he's innocent, but one of the shooting survivors believes he's holding back information about who else was involved and should not be given special treatment until he talks. Struse says, "Just say that he wasn't the shooter. He knows who it was. He's admitted he knows who it was." Struse says, "He's outright refused to help." That may seal Stahl's fate in the minds of many. Russell Pearce says, "This guy's a convicted murderer. I'm not willing to spend my tax dollars to keep him alive." State Representative Russell Pearce says the problem he has with inmates receiving organ transplants - is there are thousands of sick people outside prison walls waiting for the same organs. Pearce says, "If you had all the extra kidneys in the world.. and there was no waiting list.. that would be a different debate then. That's not the case." If you think you've made up your mind- hold on. There's something else you should know. It may be the state's fault Stahl's kidneys failed to begin with. While he was in prison five years ago, Stahl became ill. His gall bladder was removed and medical records his mother provided show he was prescribed large doses of ibuprofen, a pain medication scientifically linked to renal failure. Shortly afterward, Stahl's kidneys failed. Jones says, "It'll shut your kidneys down. It can cause liver failure. It's all on the back of the directions on the bottle that you get across the counter." Dawn Wyland says, "Just because a person is convicted doesn't mean they have been convicted to a death sentence." Dawn Wyland from the ACLU of Arizona says the Constitution requires the state to provide inmates with proper medical care. She says this case goes one step further. Wyland says, "If a man is in prison and he has been given proper medical care or medical care by the state and that's the reason he needs a transplant, I don't see how you could think of it any other way than the state should pay for it." Stahl is currently on an organ donor waiting list. There are no Department of Corrections policies that prohibit inmates from receiving transplants, but we could find no cases in at least the last 15 years, where an Arizona inmate has received a transplant. According to the Department of Corrections, kidney dialysis for an inmate costs about $100,000 every year. The transplant plus ongoing medications would be $250,000. A hospital spokesperson said the transplant pays for itself in 2 to 3 years and financially is more cost effective. |
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