Hospital Using Dad's Criminal Past to Jeopardize Son: Family

Hospital wants to wait on kidney transplant until dad complies with parole for 3 months
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 14, 2017 4:24 PM CDT
Hospital Using Dad's Criminal Past to Jeopardize Son: Family
Anthony Dickerson and son AJ, whose needed kidney transplant is being complicated by his father's history with the law.   (YouTube)

An Atlanta mother says a hospital is putting her son's future in jeopardy because of the misdeeds of his father. Two-year-old AJ was born a month early and without a working kidney, WGCL reports. According to WXIA, AJ had a stroke last month and may need bladder surgery. He also needs a kidney. Fortunately, his father, Anthony Dickerson, is a perfect match and a willing donor. "All I ever wanted was a son," Dickerson says. But Dickerson's criminal history is complicating matters. He was arrested last month for parole violation and weapons possession. Regardless, Emory Hospital had scheduled his and AJ's surgery for Oct. 3 and even requested Dickerson be temporarily released from jail last month for blood work, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

But Carmella Burgess, AJ's mother, says the hospital's attitude changed once Dickerson was released. In a letter to Burgess, a hospital official says they wanted proof Dickerson had complied with his parole for three months before moving ahead with the surgery. “We will re-evaluate Mr. Dickerson in January 2018," the letter states. Burgess worries that will be too late. “They’re making this about dad,” Burgess says. “It’s not about dad. It’s about our son.” Dickerson agrees. "What do he got to do with the mistakes I made? Nothing," Dickerson tells WXIA. Citing confidentiality rules, Emory Hospital is refusing to comment on the situation. (More kidney transplant stories.)

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