RFK Jr. targets organ donations after reports of premature removal attempts

• His involvement comes at a time when 100,000 people are on wait lists for donated organs and 13 die each day.

"The entire system must be fixed to ensure that every potential donor's life is treated with the sanctity it deserves," Kennedy said in a news release Monday.

Driving the news: Health and Human Services on Monday announced that it found evidence of systemic patient safety issues at a Kentucky organ procurement organization called Network for Hope.

• The organization came under fire last year following reports that staff pressured doctors to move forward with removing organs after previously unresponsive patients appeared to be regaining consciousness.
• HHS subsequently found that about 29% of 351 cases reviewed showed "concerning features," the New York Times first reported.

HHS on Monday said it ordered remedies, including clearer policies to define eligible donors and safeguards to allow any organization staff member to halt a procedure over patient safety concerns.

• The department also called for updated safety policies throughout the nationwide donor network, with reports made to government regulators of any safety-related stoppages.

Between the lines: The announcement came ahead of a Tuesday oversight hearing in the House of Representatives on patient safety within the organ donation system.

Most organ donations come from patients who are declared brain-dead. However, a growing number involve patients who've suffered a severe injury or illness and aren't expected to recover but still exhibit some neurological activity.

• Organ donation can only happen after a patient's heart and breathing permanently stop, and they're declared dead by the hospital team, according to the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations.
• AOPO said in a statement to Axios that it's working closely with stakeholders to learn about all reported safety incidents and improve safeguards in the system. The association "fully supports" opportunities to improve national standards, it said.

What they're saying: Network for Hope, which serves Kentucky, southwest Ohio and part of West Virginia, told Axios that patient safety is its top priority and that it looks forward to working collaboratively with HHS.

• CEO Barry Massa will speak at Tuesday's House oversight hearing. In a written testimony published ahead of the hearing, he says the organization denies allegations that it pressured hospital staff to make certain decisions related to organ donation.
• The claims, which surfaced last fall, led to more than 1,000 organ donors withdrawing from the Kentucky registry in October 2024, per Massa's testimony.

Go deeper: Some patient advocates say HHS and Congress' new focus is overdue, and that they should go even further.

• HHS was right to acknowledge that "negligent contractors are failing patients," said Jennifer Erickson, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists.
• But it has the authority to remove dangerous organ contractors right now, she said. "Patients are counting on HHS to protect them by immediately replacing contractors that are killing patients and misleading families."

Catch up quick: Congress passed a bipartisan bill two years ago to modernize organ transplant and procurement by increasing competition for contracts to run the system.

• The action came in response to a Senate probe that found that many donor organs were getting lost or damaged, among other system failures. The Biden administration pledged to issue multiple contracts to run different parts of the network going forward, instead of relying only on United Network for Organ Sharing.
• UNOS has been the sole organization contracted to handle the distribution of donated organs since the 1980s. It works with 55 regional organ procurement organizations, like Network of Hope, which identify donors and coordinate delivery to the transplant hospital.

The board overseeing the network is now independent of UNOS. UNOS continues to be contracted to run network operations, while another organization has been awarded the contract to manage the board.

• HHS last year awarded multiple contracts to study improvements to the system. Analyses are due by the end of the summer.
• The UNOS contract to operate the network expires Dec. 29, but it's not clear what happens after that, the organization told Axios. HHS did not respond to questions about whether and when it will open up additional operations contract opportunities in the future.