A new reality of organ donation– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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Excerpt:
When a nightmare situation turns into the subject of a Health and Human Services Department investigation, people pay attention. Such is the case with misconduct in the nation’s organ transplant system.
Under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health Resources and Services Administration directed the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to investigate a Kentucky-based organ procurement organization and found “systemic disregard for the sanctity of life,” per the report’s title.
The investigation was motivated in part by the case of Anthony Thomas Hoover II, who nearly had his organs removed while still alive after a drug overdose. After the Biden-era OPTN found no discrepancies and concluded Hoover’s case without action, the current administration “demanded a thorough, independent review of the OPO’s conduct.” In examining instances of authorized-but-uncompleted organ donation, the HRSA found sufficient evidence pointing to “poor neurologic assessments, lack of coordination with medical teams, questionable consent practices, and misclassification of causes of death, particularly in overdose cases.”
Hoover’s case is extreme but not solitary. The release of the HHS report comes at a time when critical coverage of the organ transplant system has seen an uptick. At least a month before, the New York Times researched the matter and found several similar instances. Such buildup displays what the HHS report warns against: “entrenched bureaucracies, outdated systems, and reckless disregard for human life.”
