Inmate who sought liver transplant dies

By Leah Thorsen

Lincoln Journal Star

Carolyn Joy wanted what more than 100 Nebraskans want: a life-saving liver transplant.

But Joy, who was an inmate at the York women's prison, didn't meet health-related criteria to be placed on an organ waiting list.

Earlier this month, she died. She was 51.

Roughly two years ago, Joy's plea for an organ transplant made some raise their eyebrows.

Why did Joy "a former prostitute and a murderer" deserve a transplant when others with less scandalous pasts die waiting for organs in such scarce supply?

A heroin addiction had caused the disease that destroyed her liver.

Media attention focusing on her plight prompted a flurry of calls to the office of the Nebraska Organ Recovery System, the state's federally designated organ procurement group.

Some spoke in support of Joy's request, said Chris Dunham, its community liaison. Some spoke against it.

A Douglas County jury convicted Joy of first-degree murder for her role in the 1982 beating death of another prostitute, Laura LaPointe, near Omaha.

At her trial, Joy testified that she and another prostitute had taken turns hitting LaPointe with a bat, but that neither meant for her to die.

Joy was sentenced to life in prison.

In a 2003 prison interview with the Journal Star, Joy said she knew some people would oppose her efforts to get a new liver because of what she'd done.

"The person I used to be -- I'm no longer," she said.

But had Joy qualified for a transplant, and had a match been found, whether she got a transplant wasn't up for a public vote. A U.S. Supreme Court decision says the state's only choice was to foot the bill for the operation.

As of Friday, 115 Nebraskans were on a waiting list for a liver transplant, according to a national transplant database.

Joy spent her last days in the hospital of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in Lincoln, said Dr. Randy Kohl, the state prison system's medical director.

Her body shut down and liver failure played a role in her death, he said.

"She was not in any pain there at the end," Kohl said.

Joy died Jan. 6, according to prison records.

A copy of her death certificate was not available Friday at the state's Vital Records office.

Kohl said he could not comment on why Joy didn't qualify for an organ waiting list because of medical confidentiality rules.

But in her 2003 Journal Star interview, Joy said she'd been told to lose weight and better control her diabetes to be eligible for a transplant.

Her next Parole Board hearing had been scheduled for June 2006.

Reach Leah Thorsen at 473-7246 or lthorsen@journalstar.com.

Copyright © 2005 Lincoln Star Journal.

This article posted June 20, 2005.