Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Network for Hope repeatedly pursued organ donations without confirming that patients had died, including one case in which a man awakened on the operating table and resisted the procedure.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Department of Health and Human Services has decertified Network for Hope after a yearlong investigation found extensive patient-safety violations, including efforts to obtain organs from patients who showed signs of awareness.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the organ procurement organization, which operated in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia, would no longer be federally certified.
Network for Hope was responsible for arranging the recovery of donated organs and delivering them for transplant procedures. Federal investigators concluded that the organization violated patient rights and safety “by pursuing organs without confirming that the donor had died.”
Kennedy said the network placed patients on organ-donation pathways “who never should have been there” and, in some cases, pressed for procurement procedures to continue despite evidence that the individuals were not appropriate donors.
One of the cases involved Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II, who had suffered a drug overdose. His family was told he would not survive and agreed to donate his organs.
Hoover subsequently showed signs of consciousness as the organ-recovery procedure was about to begin.
His sister, Donna Rohrer, said her brother “was thrashing, crying, and grabbing the doctor’s hands to stop him” while he was on the operating-room table.
Network for Hope personnel wanted the procurement to proceed, but the surgeons refused. Hoover remains alive because the doctors stopped the operation, according to Kennedy’s announcement.
The investigation found that Hoover’s case was not isolated. Approximately 70 other patients reportedly exhibited signs of alertness during procedures connected to organ procurement.
Federal officials said the decertification followed “repeated oversights, repeated warnings, corrective action plans, and multiple opportunities to improve.”
“We will not tolerate organizations that compromise patient safety or betray the trust of donors or their families,” Kennedy said.
The department’s action removes Network for Hope’s certification after investigators determined that its practices created unacceptable risks for patients whose organs were being considered for transplantation.
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