Family: Heart Transplant Denied Due to Autism

From Babble's blogger Jocelyn Gray. Don't forget to sign the petition after reading this post.

POTTSVILLE, Pa. -- Karen Corby’s husband died at age 27 of a stroke, due to an undiagnosed heart condition. Now she is fighting for a heart transplant for her 23-year-old son, who has the same condition.
Paul Corby has Left Ventricular Noncompaction, a rare, congenital disorder in which part of the heart muscle appears spongy, or “non-compacted.” The heart is less able to pump blood throughout the body; Paul’s “ejection fraction” of blood through his heart is only 20 percent. Strokes and heart failure are common prognoses. Paul has had three mini-strokes already.
Paul now takes 19 medications a day, most of which are to try to stabilize his heart. The only cure for LVN is transplant.
Paul doesn’t drink, or smoke. He is an otherwise healthy 23-year-old man. And yet, he has been denied placement on the national heart transplant list.
According to the Corbys, and according to a letter from Penn Medicine which they shared with me, Paul has been denied the placement in large part because he is autistic.