Members of Recovery in the Bin have been writing to NHS Choices over their liver transplant page which stipulated that people dx with psychosis/bipolar wouldn’t receive new livers due to ability to follow the regime of follow-up appointments & immunosuppressant meds. Members challenged this and NHS Choices replied by the following:-
“Thank you for contacting us regarding the liver transplant topic on the NHS Choices website.
The section about mental health conditions you refer to is talking about the patient’s ability to follow the regime of follow-up appointments and immunosuppressant medication needed after a liver transplant.
No mental health condition, including bipolar disorder, will automatically exclude someone from having a liver transplant – but an assessment will be necessary on an individual basis to determine whether the condition is severe enough that it might impact on their post-transplant care.
We only mention bipolar as an example because some studies have looked at this issue specifically.
However, after reconsidering our information, we have decided to remove the examples of mental health conditions from our liver transplant topic, as it’s more the severity that’s important, rather than the specific condition. By only giving a couple of examples, we think it could potentially be misleading.
Thanks again for bringing this matter to our attention. We hope this response has been helpful.
Best regards,
The NHS Choices Editorial Team”
Recovery in the Bin 