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A28 u.s. news
Diasabra 19 Juni 2021

Father gives daughter life-saving gift as living organ donor

partial transplant from a liv- But some kids awaiting trans- cording to the United Net-
ing donor. plants are in foster care or work for Organ Sharing, the
situations where a biological nonprofit that administers
And they didn’t have to look parent isn’t available or will- the nation’s procurement and
far: Tests and scans revealed ing to donate. So now there’s transplant process.
that Rhett’s liver was an ide- a movement among pediat-
al match. A few weeks later, ric surgeons and programs More than 300 children re-
both were prepped for sur- across the country to push main on the waiting list for
gery. for more anonymous living a liver transplant in the U.S.,
donors, Seal said. along with more than 11,500
Cecilia had been suffering adults, according to UNOS..
since birth with biliary atre- Organs from living donors Eight months later, Rhett
sia. That’s when bile ducts have been found to be supe- says he’s feeling great, is back
in the liver don’t form nor- rior in quality to those har- at work and enjoying his fa-
mally, preventing the organ vested from deceased donors, vorite pastimes, hunting and
from functioning properly. he said. And because the liver fishing. He said he’s “anxious
(AP) — Sitting poolside It’s one of the most com- regenerates quickly, children to see her be all that she can
with his wife and two “It was a very close call,” mon reasons why children in and small adults typically be, now that nothing’s hold-
daughters, Rhett Shaffette Rhett said. His daughter Ce- the U.S. require liver trans- only need a part of a healthy ing her back.”
says he’s already received cilia, 11 at the time, had spent plants, said John Seal, one donor’s liver. Both patients
the best gift this Father’s years in frustration on the of the surgeons on the fam- can typically expect their liv- Cecilia knows how fortunate
Day. transplant list, and was twice ily’s transplant team at Och- ers to return to normal size she is, thanks to her father’s
called to be a back-up recipi- sner Hospital for Children in within a few months to a love and generosity.
His 12-year-old daughter is ent, only to be sent home New Orleans. year, Seal said.
thriving, eight months after again in disappointment. “I’m very lucky and grateful
getting a portion of his liver. Having a biological parent Living donors made pos- that he could do this for me,”
She received the transplant After Cecilia’s near-fatal as a living donor helps with sible 491 of the 8,906 liver she said. “I have an awesome
after nearly losing her life to bleed last year, the family immunity and lowers the transplants performed in the dad. He’s always been my
internal bleeding. decided to look instead for a chance of organ rejection. United States last year, ac- hero.”

Catholic foster care agency wins Supreme Court verdict

(AP) — In another victory for would be referred to one of the more but lower courts sided with Philadel- Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and
religious groups at the Supreme than 20 other agencies that works phia. Neil Gorsuch said they would have
Court, the justices on Thursday with same-sex couples, Catholic So- overruled a 1990 Supreme Court de-
unanimously sided with a Catho- cial Services has said. In coming to the conclusion that Phil- cision that they said improperly al-
lic foster care agency that says its adelphia had acted improperly, Rob- lows limits on religious freedom.
religious views prevent it from “For over 50 years, CSS successfully erts said the city gave Catholic Social
working with same-sex couples. contracted with the City to provide Services a choice between “curtailing Alito called the court’s ruling Thurs-
The court said the city of Phila- foster care services while holding its mission or approving relationships day a “wisp of a decision.” Gorsuch
delphia wrongly limited its rela- to these beliefs,” said Roberts, one inconsistent with its beliefs.” said it was an “(ir)resolution,” pre-
tionship with the group as a re- of seven members of the court who dicting that the litigation would con-
sult of the agency’s policy. is Catholic or attended Catholic He also pointed to language in the tinue, with the city perhaps rewriting
schools. city’s standard foster care contract. its contract.
The ruling was specific to the facts The contract says that agencies cannot
of the case, sidestepping bigger ques- Because of its beliefs, the Catholic reject prospective foster or adoptive In a statement, she said the court had
tions about how to balance religious agency also does not certify unmar- parents based on their sexual orienta- “usurped the City’s judgment that
freedom and anti-discrimination ried couples. tion “unless an exception is granted.” a nondiscrimination policy is in the
laws. Instead, the outcome turned on Because the city created a process for best interests of the children in its
the language in the city’s foster care In recent years, religious groups have granting exemptions, it cannot then care.” But she said the city was also
contract. Three conservative justices been delighted by victories at the deny Catholic Social Services an ex- “gratified” that the justices did not
would have gone much further, and court, often by wide margins. That emption, Roberts concluded. “radically change existing constitu-
LGBTQ groups said they were re- includes cases in which the court tional law to adopt a standard that
lieved that the decision was limited. lifted a ban on state aid to religious Three conservative justices who would force court-ordered religious
schooling, gave religious schools joined Roberts’ opinion said they exemptions from civic obligations in
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for greater leeway to hire and fire teach- would have gone further. Justices every arena.”
a majority of the court that Catholic ers and allowed a cross to remain
Social Services “seeks only an accom- on public land. More recently, the
modation that will allow it to con- court repeatedly sided with religious
tinue serving the children of Phila- groups in fights over coronavirus re-
delphia in a manner consistent with strictions.
its religious beliefs; it does not seek to
impose those beliefs on anyone else.” Philadelphia learned in 2018 from a
newspaper reporter that Catholic So-
Roberts concluded that Philadel- cial Services would not certify same-
phia’s refusal to “contract with CSS sex couples to become foster parents.
for the provision of foster care servic- The city has said it requires the fos-
es unless it agrees to certify same-sex ter care agencies it works with not
couples as foster parents ... violates to discriminate as part of their con-
the First Amendment.” tracts. The city asked Catholic Social
Services to change its policy, but the
Roberts noted that no same-sex cou- group declined.
ple has ever asked to work with Cath-
olic Social Services, which is affiliated As a result, Philadelphia stopped re-
with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. ferring additional children to the
If that were to happen, that couple agency. Catholic Social Services sued,