After 'Horrifying' Findings, HHS Orders Reform to Organ Transplant System

[Tall Timbers]

The Department of Health and Human Services announced a major effort to reform the organ transplant system following a probe that revealed shocking practices from a major organ procurement organization.

The initiative was prompted after the Health Resources and Services Administration ordered the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) to reopen a “disturbing” case in Kentucky where a man was thought to be brain-dead. Doctors were wrong, however, and the organ harvesting surgery was canceled right before he was to be taken off life support as a physician noticed him moving and making sounds. He wasn’t the only one.

“Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying,” HHS Secretary Kennedy said in a statement. “The organ procurement organizations that coordinate access to transplants will be held accountable. The entire system must be fixed to ensure that every potential donor’s life is treated with the sanctity it deserves.”

After 'Horrifying' Findings, HHS Orders Reform to Organ Transplant System

HHS orders reform to organ transplant system after shocking findings of negligence.

townhall.com

The whole industry is horrifying to me and I want nothing to do with it. I am not an organ donor nor will I willingly accept a human body part though I may need it to live. When my times up, my times up.

 

[Hol]

The whole industry is horrifying to me and I want nothing to do with it. I am not an organ donor nor will I willingly accept a human body part though I may need it to live. When my times up, my times up.

Ditto. I became a tiny bit suspicious in the 1990s so had “organ donor” taken off of my driver’s license.

 

[Margery]

Me too. G and I heard some horror stories, and decided to side step the whole process

FWIW I wanted (and G too) the medical team to be figuring out how to help me live, not how viable my organs would be if they decided I was "brain dead" enough to go in to harvest.

In short my organs are mine, till I die the normal way.

Brain death is NOT a universal test that is the same everywhere. It is very subjective, and this isn't the only horror story I've heard. When people have worth tied to their life, people try to save them. But introduce the value of their organs after death and you have incentives to pronounce brain death.

 

[Margery]

Kentucky man declared brain dead ‘woke up’ during organ harvesting This is the case of Anthony Thomas Hoover II in Kentucky in 2024 which prompted the OP article and reform.

I remember hearing about this case and that the organ retrieval team member was throwing up objections and roadblocks and generally having a fit that they weren't going to get his organs.

That is now hearsay because I can't find proof of that- likely scrubbed for fear of law suits, but I'm pretty sure he isn't the only one this happened too.

Thankfully someone called a HALT to this before he was murdered for his organs.

 

[LydiaJoy]

His sister said “Who are we to question the medical system?”.

Question everything and everyone. The medical system has lost quite a bit of credibility over the last few years. It’s hard to find quality medical help from people who actually care. I know there are some great Christian brothers and sisters in the medical field, it's just that it seems like there are so few.