US government moves to shut down organ donation group over alleged 'safety failures'

The US federal government is taking steps to shut down an organ donation group in Kentucky accused of trying to retrieve organs from some patients who exhibited signs of life. 

Non-profit organisation Network for Hope was described as "a bad apple" by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who, in announcing the Trump administration's move to de-certify it, accused the group of "persistent safety failures".

While the surgeries did not ultimately go ahead, the cases made headlines several years ago, prompting a spike in people across the country revoking their organ donor registrations.

Network for Hope, one of about 55 organ procurement organisations (OPOs) that coordinate the recovery of organs from deceased donors and help match them to patients on the US transplant list, said it "strongly disagrees" with the decision and will appeal.

Among the allegations against Network for Hope is the claim that in 2021, the group's predecessor organisation put pressure on a local hospital to proceed with plans to withdraw life support and retrieve organs from a man despite signs that he was waking up from a drug overdose.

The man, who survived the alleged incident, thanked Mr Kennedy and joined the health secretary at a press briefing on Wednesday.

'First-of-its-kind' safeguarding measure

An OPO is unable to declare that someone is dead – something only a doctor at the hospital treating the patient can do. It is only after that declaration that the responsibility for the deceased can be assumed by a donor agency, which will then look for potential recipients and schedule surgeries to retrieve the organs.

Most donations come from people declared brain-dead, but in some cases a doctor might determine that a patient has a non-survivable injury and let the family decide to withdraw life support, which can then also allow for donation.

In a statement, Network for Hope insists it complies with all federal organ policies and said it had implemented a "first-of-its-kind" new safeguarding measure last year, allowing anyone – including health professionals or family members – to call for a pause in donation planning if there is any concern the patient might not be appropriate.

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Kentucky recently passed a law mandating that pause, while the federal Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network is currently working on new rules that also would require all US OPOs to implement it.

More than 100,000 people are on the country's transplant list, with the vast majority seeking a kidney. It is believed thousands will die waiting for a new organ.

There were more than 49,000 transplants last year, a record despite a drop in donations from the deceased – the first such dip in a decade.

(c) Sky News 2026: US government moves to shut down organ donation group over alleged 'safety failures'