Conspiracy Confirmed: Hospitals Are Harvesting Organs From Donors Who Are Still Showing Signs of Life

HHS — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the leadership of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. today announced a major initiative to begin reforming the organ transplant system following an investigation by its Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that revealed disturbing practices by a major organ procurement organization.

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.

Chalk up another W for the conspiracy theorists, folks.

This is a story that, while shocking that it was ever confirmed to any appreciable degree, makes total sense once you look into it. There are third-party organ harvesting companies that work in conjunction with the hospitals to take the organs from potential donors who are on life support. They're classified as non-profits, but they certainly seem to have a bit of a vested interest in cases that could go one way or the other.

New York Times — Stories like these have emerged as the transplant system has increasingly turned to a type of organ removal called donation after circulatory death. It accounted for a third of all donations last year: about 20,000 organs, triple the number from five years earlier.

Most donated organs in the United States come from people who are brain-dead — an irreversible state — and are kept on machines only to maintain their organs.

Circulatory death donation is different. These patients are on life support, often in a coma. Their prognoses are more of a medical judgment call.

They are alive, with some brain activity, but doctors have determined that they are near death and won’t recover. If relatives agree to donation, doctors withdraw life support and wait for the patient’s heart to stop. This has to happen within an hour or two for the organs to be considered viable. After the person is declared dead, surgeons go in.

The Times found that some organ procurement organizations — the nonprofits in each state that have federal contracts to coordinate transplants — are aggressively pursuing circulatory death donors and pushing families and doctors toward surgery. Hospitals are responsible for patients up to the moment of death, but some are allowing procurement organizations to influence treatment decisions.

Fifty-five medical workers in 19 states told The Times they had witnessed at least one disturbing case of donation after circulatory death.

I don't know how anyone remains an organ donor after reading that. One bad car wreck and you could have your heart and lungs ripped out of your chest while you're still alive enough to feel pain and know you're being sliced open but not conscious enough to scream. No thanks!

This doesn't even seem to be some incredibly rare freak accident, either. Nearly 30 percent of the 350 cases the HHS examined showed "concerning features" and at least 28 people had organ procurement initiated when they may not have been dead. I'm all for acknowledging when things are statistical anomalies or incredibly unlikely, but it sounds to me like you're one bad day away from a 1 in 3 shot of having an organ harvesting company come take a look at you and determine you'd be a great candidate to give your heart to someone else.

The good news is we're being told the truth about everything else in the world.