CANADA: MELD Score Overlooked Autoimmune Risk, Leaving Liver Patient Bedridden While Donor Testing Drags

BC liver transplant Wait Turns Dire As Patient Faces MELD Score Issues, Donor Delays
November 10, 2025 — by Transplant News

WORLD NEWS – CANADA: A 42-year-old mother in British Columbia, Lindsay Ritchel, has been largely bedridden and now relies on a walker while awaiting a liver transplant after an autoimmune illness severely damaged her liver. Medical staff told her ten months ago that she had roughly six months to live without a new organ, a prognosis that has driven urgent appeals for a donor and sharp concern from her medical team and family.

Ritchel and her physicians say the provincial transplant scoring system, the MELD-Na metric, has not properly captured the severity of her autoimmune disease, and clinicians have acknowledged that her calculated score is incorrect for her circumstances. Vancouver Coastal Health’s transplant program has stated that the MELD-Na number is not the sole method used to evaluate patients and that reassessments are made when clinical updates are provided.

Facing inadequate priority on the wait list, Ritchel turned to public appeals for living donors and received more than 50 responses. BC Transplant initially told her a non‑relative donor would not be allowed but reversed that position and has since proceeded with testing for two potential living donors. That donor evaluation process has stretched to roughly six months in her case, despite earlier expectations of a three‑month timeline. BC Transplant maintains that testing requires a minimum of three months and that donor evaluations are handled confidentially.

Ritchel says inconsistent communication from the transplant program has left her uncertain about when surgery might be scheduled; she was told two weeks ago to expect a surgery date by yesterday but has received no confirmation. With a failing liver and a weakened immune system as flu season approaches, she describes acute anxiety about complications that could become life‑threatening, and remains awaiting a definitive plan and date for transplantation.