This article originally appeared on WND.com
Guest post by Bob Unruh
And 73 exhibited ‘neurological signs incompatible with donation.’
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirms it has launched a “major initiative” to reform America’s organ-transplant system after it stunningly revealed that dozens of organ donors may not have been dead when the process to procure their organs was started, and dozens more exhibited “neurological signs incompatible with donation.”
“Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying,” explained HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“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,” he said.
A commentary posted at the Washington Stand on the situation highlighted one case:
“According to a partially redacted, eight-page report dated May 28, 2025, HHS received ‘an allegation of potentially preventable harm to a neurologically injured patient.’ This prompted the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the subdepartment of HHS that oversees the organ donation system, to launch an investigation after HRSA Administrator Thomas Engels assumed his post in February. The New York Times identified that victim as Anthony Thomas Hoover II, then 33 years old, who was hospitalized with a drug overdose in 2021. Hours after a doctor had declared him brain-dead, Hoover awakened to find medical staff preparing to remove his organs. ‘Even though the man cried, pulled his legs to his chest and shook his head, officials still tried to move forward.’ Hospital staff ultimately became ‘uncomfortable with the amount of reflexes’ Hoover showed, and a doctor ultimately refused to remove him from life-support. The man ultimately survived.”
HHS orders reform of organ donation system after investigation finds ‘horrifying’ practices ‘when patients showed signs of life.’ pic.twitter.com/7Usp5zwJPK
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 22, 2025
The US Department of Health and Human Services under RFK Jr. is announcing a major initiative to overhaul the organ transplant system after an HRSA investigation uncovered significant problems:
HRSA examined 351 cases where organ donation was authorized, but ultimately not… pic.twitter.com/lRDpcQGQTi
— Dr. Heidi Klessig (@heidiklessigmd) July 22, 2025
HRSA reported that it reviewed 351 cases where organ donation was authorized but ultimately not completed. It found 103 cases “showed concerning features, including 73 patients with neurological signs incompatible with organ donation,” “at least 28 patients may not have been deceased at the time organ procurement was initiated – raising serious ethical and legal questions,” and “evidence pointed to poor neurologic assessments, lack of coordination with medical teams, questionable consent practices, and misclassification of causes of death, particularly in overdose cases.”
Under the plan the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network has been told to reopen an investigation into one unidentified case, which had been closed under the Joe Biden administration.
The newest review suggested “clear negligence.”
Now being imposed are new corrective actions and system-level changes that are intended to safeguard potential donors.
The Organ Procurement Organization must “conduct a full root cause analysis of its failure to follow internal protocols—including noncompliance with the five-minute observation rule after the patient’s death—and develop clear, enforceable policies to define donor eligibility criteria. Additionally, it must adopt a formal procedure allowing any staff member to halt a donation process if patient safety concerns arise,” the government said.
Safeguards and monitoring also are being ratcheted up.
“These findings from HHS confirm what the Trump administration has long warned: entrenched bureaucracies, outdated systems, and reckless disregard for human life have failed to protect our most vulnerable citizens. Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, HHS is restoring integrity and transparency to organ procurement and transplant policy by putting patients’ lives first,” the report said.
The commentary from the Stand, by Joshua Arnold, noted Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., worried that the story about the attempt to remove Hoover’s organs, “seems to be a story more fitting for a horror movie than a congressional hearing.”
Barry Mass, chief of Network for Hope, a federally funded OPO which works in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia, appeared during a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee recently.
He “could only respond with assent” to Dunn’s comments.
The commentary noted, “Such improvement in America’s organ transplant system was not forthcoming before the Trump administration exerted serious pressure. Despite the shocking details of Hoover’s case, the Membership and Professional Standards Committee (MPSC) of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) ‘closed the case without further action,’ even after Network for Hope’s reply ‘did not include the patient-level materials or administrative documents requested by the MPSC,’ according to the HRSA report.”
The federal study found many organ “donors” “had no cardiac time of death noted.”
“Such was the case with Hoover, who left the hospital four years ago and is still alive,” the commentary said.
The horror story details just continued, the commentary said, pointing out “multiple patients” were found to be evincing pain or discomfort while the staff was preparing to take their organs.
It explained, “In other words, like Hoover, overdose patients might seem dead because of the lingering effects of drugs, then gradually recover. If organ harvesters fail to recognize or record the effect of drugs on the patient, they may prematurely harvest organs from a patient set to fully recover.”
The commentary noted, “According to The New York Times, two former employees of Network of Hope said ‘higher-ups’ tried to pressure hospital staff to proceed with harvesting Hoover’s organs. ‘If it had not been for that physician [who refused to end life support], we absolutely, 1,000% would have moved forward,’ said Natasha Miller, an employee in the room. Three more former employees confirmed seeing similar cases.”
Stunningly, when eight members of the OPTN board resigned their positions, complaining about the Trump administration’s oversight plans, several industry groups, like the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, protested.
“These responses constitute angry warnings that the Trump administration will likely encounter serious opposition from the organ procurement and transplant industry. But the Trump administration is right to press such reform through, over the objections of industry participants, who as likely as not are part of the problem. As the HHS noted, an industry that shows ‘systemic disregard for sanctity of life” needs urgent reform,” the commentary said.
Copyright 2025 WND News Center
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