The organ donation community is grappling with a surge in donor registration revocations, triggered by a case in Kentucky where a man was erroneously declared dead and almost had his organs harvested. The incident occurred in 2021, and although the specifics remain unclear, the man is still alive after the procedure was averted. The case, which recently gained publicity, has had a ripple effect on donor registries in the U.S. and even overseas, potentially endangering those waiting for life-saving transplants.
“Public trust is the bedrock of organ donation,” stated Dorrie Dils, president of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs). She warned that once this trust is compromised, it could take years to rebuild. The law stipulates that only the doctors treating patients can declare them dead, preventing anyone involved in organ donation or transplantation from making this determination. This case, however, has raised questions about the process doctors use to make this declaration and the procedures in place if there are doubts.
Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, a bioethicist at Georgetown University, emphasized the importance of ensuring that “all doctors are conducting the appropriate tests and doing them correctly.” The 2021 incident was first revealed during a congressional hearing last month, with subsequent media reports alleging that the man, who had been declared dead days earlier, regained consciousness en route to the operating room for organ donation surgery.
The U.S. federal agency overseeing the transplant system is currently investigating the case. Meanwhile, the Kentucky attorney general’s office is “reviewing the facts to determine an appropriate response.” A coalition of OPOs and other donation groups is urging the public to withhold judgment until the findings are released, emphasizing that any deviation from the industry’s stringent standards would be “completely unacceptable.”
Donate Life America reported that in the week following media coverage of the allegations, an average of 170 people per day removed themselves from the national donor registry. This figure, which is ten times higher than the same week in 2023, does not include emailed removal requests or state registries. Dils’ own organization, Gift of Life Michigan, experienced a significant increase in calls from people wanting to remove themselves from the state’s donor list, with many citing the Kentucky case.
The repercussions of the Kentucky case have also been felt in France, where the law presumes all citizens and residents will be organ and tissue donors upon death unless they explicitly opt out. Following the Kentucky reports, the number of people joining France’s donation refusal registry surged from about 100 per day to 1,000 per day in the past week, according to the French Biomedicine Agency.
Dr. Régis Bronchard, the agency’s deputy director, said the spike “reflects anxiety and misunderstanding among the general public,” which could have “disastrous consequences.” He emphasized the importance of maintaining public trust in the organ donation process, as any doubts could potentially lead to a significant decrease in organ donations, impacting those in need of transplants.