The federal government is developing new safeguards for the organ transplant system after an investigation found a Kentucky group continued donation preparations on some patients who showed signs of life.
A House committee is considering new national policies making clear that anyone – family, hospital staff, or organ donation staff – can call for a pause in organ donation preparations any time there are concerns about the patient’s eligibility.
The hearing earlier this week came after a federal investigation last fall into allegations that a Kentucky donation group pressured a Richmond hospital in 2021 to proceed with plans to withdraw life support and retrieve organs from a man. The man was showing signs that he might be waking up from his drug overdose.
That surgery never happened after a doctor noticed him moving and moaning while being transported to the operating room — and the man survived.
The Kentucky organ procurement organization has made changes to its processes, and the national transplant network is working on additional steps.
Notably absent on Tuesday was any testimony from hospitals, whose doctors must independently determine a patient is dead before donation groups are allowed to retrieve organs.
