Vanderbilt Denies Heart Transplant To 7-Month Old Baby Because He Is Not Vaccinated

Image Credit: Nurse Freedom Network & SenatorDF / CC

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

The transplant team at Monroe Carell, Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, led by Dr. David Bearl, has denied placing 7-month old August Stoll on the transplant list due to his vaccination status.

August’s parents made the decision not to have their child vaccinated with the COVID vaccines as well as other childhood vaccines, based on religious and medical grounds.

August’s mother, Hannah Stoll, said in a statement, “Cardiology (at Vanderbilt Children’s) has been amazing here, as well as the PCICU. I don’t want anyone to think we haven’t received excellent care from the cardiologists, nurses, NPs and surgeons. It is the transplant team who has failed us.”

Hannah issued this updated statement on Friday, June 24th.

Lead doctor David Bearl is insisting that August receive the full round of childhood vaccines and the COVID vaccine before they will place him on the recipient list for this transplant to save his life.

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Conservative organizations in Tennessee are advocating for August including the Nurse Freedom Network.

In an urgent call to action post, the organization states, “This precious child is in DIRE need of this transplant. Please reach out to the Vanderbilt Pediatric Heart Institute at 615-322-6154 and voice your strong concern and demand that they follow applicable TN law! We MUST stand in the gap for baby August and so many others who are being shamefully denied medical care and life-saving interventions. Please SHARE this widely! We must be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves!”

They also point to a Tennessee law that went into effect on May 15th that should have prevented this situation.

Tennessee Public Chapter Number 769, in part, states that “A covered entity shall not, solely on the basis of whether an individual has received or will receive a COVID-19 vaccine, do the following:

(1) Consider an individual ineligible for transplantation or receipt of an anatomical gift;

(2) Deny medical or other services related to transplantation, including:

(A) Evaluation; 

(B) Surgery; and

(C) Counseling and treatment following transplantation;

(3) Refuse to refer an individual to a transplant center or specialist;

(4) Refuse to place an individual on an organ or tissue waiting list; or

(5) Place an individual at a position on an organ or tissue waiting list that is lower than the position at which the individual would have been placed if not for the individual’s COVID-19 vaccine status.

AJ DePriest of Tennessee Liberty Network is also sounding the alarm to garner support for baby August. 

“We have a DIRE situation here in Nashville. August Stoll is 7 months old. He has been a candidate and in urgent need of a heart transplant at Vanderbilt Children’s hospital since June 15…but Bearl and his team have laid down the law that August will NOT get a new heart unless the parents bend to his will.” DePriest said.

Regarding Public Chapter Number 769, DePriest said, “Ironically, Tennessee passed half-hearted legislation on April 13, 2022, forbidding healthcare facilities from denying transplants on the basis of vaccination status. It was toothless legislation, like all healthcare legislation the TN General Assembly passed this year. But it’s all we have. It was amended to include vaccinations other than Covid shots.”

DePriest said she spoke with Senator Jack Johnson and that he agreed to speak to Vanderbilt about August’s situation and remind them of the law.

However, DePriest suspects this will be a weak attempt and nothing will come of it.

Gary Humble and Tennessee Stands are also advocating for August.

Humble said, “Our team and SO MANY others have been advocating for baby August and his family today. This story is heartbreaking.”

Humble points to a bill that failed to pass in the Tennessee General Assembly last session that would have prevented this situation from occurring.

The Tennessee Stands post reads, “This year, we ran SB2151 to keep situations like this from happening. Had the bill passed, it would have been discriminatory by law to deny any individual healthcare services because of their vaccination status.

But the Senate Judiciary Committee killed the bill in committee. Not only did the bill die, but representatives from the Governor’s office and the TN Dept of Health showed up in committee to testify against the bill. Here is the video of that testimony.

I want to be extremely CLEAR.

1. Passing SB2151 would have required Vanderbilt to provide life-saving surgery to August regardless of his vaccination status.

2. Governor Bill Lee is directly responsible for killing this bill.

No votes in the committee were Mike Bell, Todd Gardenhire, Sara Kyle, London Lamar, John Lundberg, Paul Rose, and John Stevens.

If August dies, these men and women have the blood of a 7-month-old baby boy on their hands.

Please hear me. This is why we fight so hard to protect individual liberties, human rights, God-given rights as secured by our Constitution. Protecting these rights is not just about choice and saving jobs. Sometimes, protecting these rights is a matter of life and death.

All we can do now is create public pressure on Vanderbilt to do the right thing, and PRAY.

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com