Disturbing NYT report about an Organ Procurement Organization in Kentucky

 Deceased donation of organs mostly occurs after potential donors suffer brain death, which, roughly speaking, means the loss of all organized brain activity, including the automatic activities that control breathing and heartbeat.  If the deceased died while on a ventilator, their organs continue to get oxygen, and may be able to save other lives through organ donation.

But sometimes the patient appears to be dead, but there's still enough brain activity to potentially support breathing and heartbeat.  If the decision is made to remove the patient from the ventilator, breathing and heartbeat may cease very quickly, and the patient dies (including brain death which follows the loss of blood  circulation).  In some cases the patient can be reconnected to the ventilator and become a potential organ donor. This is called Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD).  But sometimes the patient doesn't die right after being removed from the ventilator, and might remain alive, for some time,  and even posssibly recover.

Today's NYT reports cases in Kentucky in which the Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) apparently tried to press physicians to declare death prematurely,.

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.   A federal investigation found a Kentucky nonprofit pushed hospital workers toward surgery despite signs of revival in patients.   By Brian M. Rosenthal  June 6, 2025,

"[A federal] investigation examined about 350 cases in Kentucky over the past four years in which plans to remove organs were ultimately canceled. It found that in 73 instances, officials should have considered stopping sooner because the patients had high or improving levels of consciousness. 

...

"Most of the patients eventually died, hours or days later. But some recovered enough to leave the hospital, according to an investigation by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, whose findings were shared with The New York Times.

"The investigation centered on an increasingly common practice called “donation after circulatory death.” Unlike most organ donors, who are brain-dead, patients in these cases have some brain function but are on life support and not expected to recover. Often, they are in a coma.

"If family members agree to donation, employees of a nonprofit called an organ procurement organization begin testing the patient’s organs and lining up transplant surgeons and recipients. Every state has at least one procurement organization, and they often station staff in hospitals to help manage donations.

"Typically, the patient is taken to an operating room where hospital workers withdraw life support and wait. The organs are considered viable for donation only if the patient dies within an hour or two. If that happens, the procurement organization’s team waits five more minutes and then begins removing organs. Strict rules are supposed to ensure that no retrieval begins before death or causes it."