The Texas Attorney General's Office is accusing Houston Methodist hospitals of potentially denying patients organ transplants if they have not received a COVID-19 vaccine, which would violate a new state law.
In a letter that was shared publicly Monday but dated Oct. 2, the attorney general’s office cites a post on X from July that indicated a patient was not able to receive a kidney transplant until they received a COVID-19 vaccine.
House Bill 4076, which took effect in September, prohibits Texas hospitals from denying organ transplants based solely on a patient's vaccination status.
"If still in effect, the Kidney Transplant CPG would violate state law by requiring patients to receive a COVID-19 vaccine prior to a kidney transplant," the letter reads. "Further, to the extent any other Houston Methodist transplant policies mandate vaccination of any kind for transplant patients or penalize them solely based on their vaccination status, including, for instance, by giving them lower priority on transplant waitlists, those policies would also violate state law."
In a statement Monday to Houston Public Media, a spokesperson for Houston Methodist denied the allegation.
“Houston Methodist does not have a policy requiring transplant patients be vaccinated against COVID-19, or any other disease, and does not deny care based on vaccination status,” the spokesperson wrote. “We abide by all state laws and as one of the largest transplant programs in the country, the safety of our patients always comes first.”
Though Texas lawmakers made it illegal for hospitals to refuse organ transplants for unvaccinated patients, medical experts have said transplant recipients benefit from a COVID-19 vaccine and still recommend vaccination. A 2023 study from Johns Hopkins University found that transplant recipients who received a vaccine were at a lower risk of hospitalization.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who is running for U.S. Senate, did not sign the letter to Houston Methodist. Instead, it's signed by Amy Snow Hilton, the chief of Healthcare Program Enforcement for the attorney general’s office, and Assistant AG Andrea Cohen Haim.
"Texans looking to receive medical care should never be turned away due to arbitrary COVID-19 vaccine mandates imposed by woke medical providers," Paxton said in a Monday news release. "Vaccine mandates as a precondition for certain life-saving treatments may not only violate new state laws that became effective on September 1, but they also violate human dignity and run contrary to foundational principles of medical ethics. That's why I've requested that Houston Methodist Hospital clarify its compliance with Texas's new laws and position on vaccine mandates."
The letter gives Houston Methodist 14 days to respond about whether or not the hospital system is denying patients transplants based on their vaccination status. If the hospital does not reply, the attorney general’s office will open an investigation into the system, according to the letter.
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