The federal government is moving to shut down the organization that manages organ donations in the Kentucky region, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. announced Wednesday. The Louisville-based Network for Hope has been under federal scrutiny for more than a year, following a whistleblower’s report of a case in which staff started to harvest a man’s organs before he was actually dead.

Background

In 2021, a man named TJ Hoover survived an experience in which hospital staff began to prepare his body for organ harvesting while he was still alive. Hoover had overdosed and was taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest. After being unresponsive for several days, he woke up on the operating table as his chest was being shaved and his body bathed in surgical solution, and he heard staff discussing how they would take his organs.

Hoover’s case led to an investigation by the Health Resources and Services Administration, which found that of the 351 cases it examined in which organ donation was authorized but ultimately not completed, more than 100 had ‘concerning features,’ including 73 patients with neurological signs that were incompatible with organ donation.

Response

Secretary Kennedy said that Network for Hope ‘repeatedly failed to meet’ the standards for organ procurement organizations. The organization did not respond to a request for comment on Kennedy’s announcement.

Kentucky passed its own organ transplant safety law, which went into effect in July, allowing any staff involved in the transplant process to stop the procedure if they have questions or concerns. The law also clarifies that donor consent to having organs harvested must be properly documented, and it spells out that a patient must be formally declared dead before their organs can be removed.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.