Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Jose Mercury News (12.11.01) - Thursday, December 13, 2001
Cordula Tutt
"At most centers, you could not even get past the door. Some centers did agree to evaluate me, and the cardiologists were in favor of it at that point, but then the board that had to decide if I was eligible was generally against it." Then Zackin found that the Cleveland Clinic Foundation was willing to consider people with HIV. Now, after a successful operation, Zackin is back to working out in the gym six to seven days a week. He said he would not blame discrimination for his problems in becoming eligible for a heart transplant, but rather ignorance and fear. "On the medical side, there might be well-founded concern about immune suppression and drug interaction," he said. "On the political side, there is the question of a limited number of organs and who deserves them."
Zackin, whose private insurance paid for the procedure, was released from the hospital 10 days after the surgery and has done well since the procedure under the surveillance of doctors in Cleveland and Boston. Apart from the scar, he said he feels no symptoms. And despite fears that the immune- suppressing drugs needed to prevent organ rejection would allow the virus to spread, his HIV levels have not climbed. "My HIV has not progressed at all," he said. "I am doing now what I have done for years," he said. He has just added more pills to his daily regimen, he said.
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