Teenager Denied Heart Transplant Over History of 'Noncompliance' and Trouble With the Law
Family says bad behavior kept teenager off transplant list.
Aug. 12, 2013— -- A Georgia teenager needs a lifesaving heart transplant, but his family says low grades and trouble with the law have kept him off the transplant list.
Doctors at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston told the family of 15-year-old Anthony Stokes that they won't put him on the transplant list because of his history of "noncompliance," according to ABC's Atlanta affiliate WSBTV.
"They said they don't have any evidence that he would take his medicine or that he would go to his follow-ups," Melencia Hamilton, Anthony's mother, told WSBTV.
Anthony has an enlarged heart and has been given six months to live, according to WSBTV.
The hospital released a statement saying that it was continuing to work with the family to explore its options.
"We follow very specific criteria in determining eligibility for a transplant of any kind," hospital spokeswoman Patty Gregory said in the statement to ABCNews.com.
ABCNews.com was not able to reach Hamilton.