LOS ANGELES—A woman diagnosed with severe liver disease was removed from the transplant list by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles recently because of her admitted use of pornography. The 34-year-old woman, who is applying to other medical centers and thus prefers to remain nameless, was told by the medical center that she was no longer eligible for a transplant because of "substance abuse."
An advocacy group for patients rights, Americans for Safe Porn Use, decried the decision, saying, "Denying necessary transplants to pornography users is the worst kind of discrimination. Cedars-Sinai would not be breaking any laws, federal or otherwise, by granting this desperate and needy woman a transplant, and it's certainly the ethical thing to do."
Cedars-Sinai refused to comment on its decision, which is the first of its kind following the decision by the American Psychiatric Association, in its latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, to elevate chronic pornography use to the level of a paraphilia disorder, akin to other personality disorders recognized by the DSM, including drug and alcohol abuse and other affective disorders.
Cedars has not replied to requests for comment about its decision, but the former patient, who is currently looking for a medical center that will treat her despite her pornography use, said, "I don't know why Cedars would deny me a transplant simply because I watch porn from time to time. I hope they listen to reason and change their misguided policy, if not for me then at least for the others who will certainly follow."
The woman's attorney said he will likely sue the medical center, but also noted that ever since the APA had made the controversial decision to recognize porn use as a personality disorder, everyone from insurance companies to regular employers had been cracking down on individuals for their "addictions."
"And it's not just happening in the private sector," he added. "In New York, Mayor Bloomberg has initiated an all-out war on porn, declaring that anyone working for the city who is found to be in possession of more than two videos will be terminated immediately, and any vendor who sells more than two videos will have their business license revoked.
"In light of the new porn witch hunt," he conceded, "getting justice for my client will be an uphill battle."
If it is not already obvious, the preceding story is fictional only in the sense that it replaced "medical marijuana" with "pornography." A woman really was removed from the transplant list at Cedars for using medical marijuana. And the APA has considered adding chronic porn use to its list of paraphilia disorders. Consider this small satire a warning.
