[ExI] Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network caught by HHS harvesting organs from living patients

[Stuart LaForge]

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) audited the 
Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and found some 
seriously disturbing practices:

https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hrsa-to-reform-organ-transplant-system.html#:~:text=It%20found%3A,serious%20ethical%20and%20legal%20questions.
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"HRSA examined 351 cases where organ donation was authorized, but 
ultimately not completed. It found:103 cases (29.3%) 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. 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."
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Families were apparently complaining that loved ones were biting down on 
the life support tubes or crying when technicians were withdrawing their 
life support to prep them for organ harvesting. Apparently donor cardiac 
death (DCD) and not brain death was being used as the criteria for organ 
harvesting. 103 patients out of 351 or 29.3% were not brain dead at the 
time of organ harvest and 28 of them still had a heartbeat after the 
mandatory one-hour waiting period after withdrawal of life support, and 
the patient's organs were still harvested. And allegedly, if you are not 
signed up for organ donation, they will try to convince your family to 
pull the plug, so they can get the organs.

I am all for voluntary euthanasia with some caveats, but I think this is 
plain wrong.

Stuart LaForge