Latest news with #organDonation
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr orders changes for organ donation network as report finds dozens were not dead when harvested
Amid reports that organ donors may be at risk for having their body parts harvested while still alive and kicking, the Trump administration has launched a sweeping reformation of the U.S. organ transplant system. The move, announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., comes on the heels of an investigation by the department's Health Resources and Services Administration that revealed 'disturbing' practices by a major organ procurement organization. 'Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying,' Kennedy said in a statement. 'The organ procurement organizations that coordinate access to transplants will be held accountable. The entire system must be fixed to ensure that every potential donor's life is treated with the sanctity it deserves.' The administration directed the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network – which links organ donation and transplantation professionals throughout the country – to reopen a case involving potentially preventable harm to a neurologically injured patient by the federally funded organ procurement organization serving Kentucky, southwest Ohio and part of West Virginia. The department did not name the organization. The New York Times recently reported that the federal inquiry had begun last fall after 36-year-old Kentuckian Anthony Thomas Hoover II's organs were pursued even as he shook his head and drew up his knees to his chest. Hoover's sister, Donna Rohrer, had previously told NPR that she felt 'betrayed by the fact that the people that were telling us he was brain dead and then he wakes up.' Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Department of Health and Human Services announced a new initiative to reform the nation's organ transplant system. The move comes after an investigation led to 'horrifying' conclusions, he said (AFP via Getty Images) Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, the group tied to the case, is new a part of Network for Hope: a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing and newly formed organ procurement organization. Network for Hope has criticized The Times' reporting in a page on its website, saying it was missing 'factual clarifications and critical context about organ and tissue donation.' 'We are fully committed to transparency and accountability to their regulations regarding donation after circulatory death donation...' the group said. 'Our goal has always been and will remain to meet the highest ethical and medical standards in donation and transplantation.' There were some 48,000 organ transplants in 2024, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Last year, it said there were more than 7,200 donation after circulatory death donors, making up 43 percent of all deceased donors. Donation after circulatory death is defined as when the donor patient is still on life support, near death, and will not recover. It said that neither its staff nor transplant professionals are involved in the determination of death. 'Patient safety is our top priority. Network for Hope looks forward to working collaboratively with HHS and HRSA and encourages the development of policies that support the betterment of the organ transplant system as a whole,' CEO Barry Massa said in a statement sent to The Independent. According to the Trump administration, the Biden administration's Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network's Membership and Professional Standards Committee closed the case without taking action. 'HRSA demanded a thorough, independent review of the organ procurement organization's conduct and the treatment of vulnerable patients under its care. HRSA's independent investigation revealed clear negligence after the previous OPTN Board of Directors claimed to find no major concerns in their internal review,' the department wrote. After examining more than 350 cases were organ donation was authorized but ultimately not completed, it found that 103 showed concerning features, including 73 patients with neurological signs incompatible with organ donation. The Times, citing interviews with health care workers and a review of internal records, audio recordings and text messages, reported that there were 12 additional cases in nine states that troubled medical workers or were being investigated. Donation after circulatory death occurs when someone has a non-survivable brain injury, but because all brain function hasn't stopped, the family decides to withdraw life support. Last year, there were more than 7,200 such donations and researchers are working on new methods to retrieve hearts in these patients. (AP) Furthermore, the department said at least 28 patients may not have been fully dead at the time organ procurement was initiated. The investigation found evidence pointing to poor neurologic assessments, lack of coordination with medical teams, questionable consent practices, and misclassification of causes of death, particularly in cases involving an overdose. It also noted that vulnerabilities were highest in smaller and rural hospitals. In response to the investigation's findings, the administration has mandated corrective actions, as well as 'system-level changes.' Data regarding any safety-related stoppages of organ donation called for by families, hospital, or organ procurement organization staff must be reported to regulators and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network must adopt a formal procedure allowing any staff member to halt a donation process if patient safety concerns arise. The network must also update its policies. Last September, the federal government increased oversight of the network following a House committee hearing, according to The Times. As of 2022, 170 million Americans had registered as organ donors, according to the administration. Not everyone who registers is able to donate and only three in 1,000 people die in a way that allows for deceased organ donation. 'These findings from HHS confirm what the Trump administration has long warned: entrenched bureaucracies, outdated systems, and reckless disregard for human life have failed to protect our most vulnerable citizens,' the department wrote. With reporting from The Associated Press Solve the daily Crossword
The Sun
08-07-2025
- The Sun
British tourist died from severe head injuries after falling from first floor window in Amsterdam
A BRIT tourist died from severe head injuries the day after he fell from a first floor window, an inquest has heard. Ben Roberts, 24, suffered a fractured skull in the backwards plunge. He was taken to hospital in Amsterdam but died the next day, donating his heart, liver, spleen, pancreas and kidneys to help others. Ben, of Bromley, South East London, was in the Netherlands with his family in May last year when he sat on a windowsill and fell backwards. Friends of his family donated almost £17,000 towards the young man's funeral and to fly his body home as no travel insurance was in place at the time of the accident. His heartbroken mother Kerry said: 'I can't describe our loss, we are heartbroken. "As Ben's mum, part of me died the day he did." Coroner Victoria Webb said: 'This was a complete accident and no third party was involved.' She said a UK post-mortem was limited due to organ donations and embalming but went on: 'There is no evidence to suggest the fall was suspicious or intentional.' Verdict: Accident. 1
Fox News
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
USAF veteran who donated 2 organs poses as ‘40s pinup model
After Lindsay Gutierrez sustained a traumatic brain injury on duty, she was determined to help other veterans in need. The U.S. Air Force veteran served six years and became a double organ donor, making her one of 280 people in the U.S. who've donated two organs to save lives. She's now appearing in Pin-Ups For Vets' 20th annual fundraiser calendar for 2026, which features 13 female veterans from across the country photographed in vintage styles. "[The calendar] provides a chance for women veterans to showcase not just their outside beauty, but their inner beauty and the amazing accomplishments that they have done," Gutierrez told Fox News Digital. "It was a huge interest to me because of where I'm at in my journey now with being an organ donor, a veteran, a social worker – I felt this was the most opportune time. And I am so thrilled that I was selected to be part of his amazing cohort." The award-winning nonprofit, founded in 2006 by California resident Gina Elise, raises money to support hospitalized and deployed troops. It produces World War II-inspired bombshell calendars featuring veterans as models. Elise previously told Fox News Digital she was inspired by Hollywood actress Betty Grable, whose swimsuit snap was distributed to GIs during World War II. Pin-Ups For Vets has donated over $120,000 to purchase new rehabilitation equipment for veteran hospitals nationwide. Volunteer ambassadors for the organization have also personally visited over 20,000 ill and injured veterans during their 50-state VA hospital tour to deliver gifts of appreciation. Proceeds from the calendar will support visits to ill and injured veterans, care packages for deployed troops and ongoing donations of rehabilitation equipment to VA hospitals, as well as providing goods to homeless veterans and those transitioning into housing. Gutierrez, 42, said the platform means more than transforming into a Hollywood bombshell for a day – her goal is to shine a spotlight on the importance of organ donation. "This means an opportunity to expand my service and be able to give back to the veteran community," she explained. "As a veteran myself, that's important. My service never stopped just because I was discharged. It's an extension of what I'm doing, and it allows me to continue connecting with other veterans." WATCH: USAF VETERAN WHO DONATED TWO ORGANS POSES AS '40S PINUP MODEL "We're helping veterans in these hospital settings and different communities – that allows me to share my story and my journey to hopefully connect with somebody who is also on that transplant list and is in need of some care and hope." "There are people out there who are willing to save a life," Gutierrez added. The Maryland resident originally moved to California in 2009 with big dreams of becoming a special effects makeup artist. Gutierrez admitted to hitting "roadblock after roadblock" and struggling to make ends meet. "I thought, 'Well, why not try the military?'" she reasoned. The idea wasn't foreign to Gutierrez. Both her grandfathers served. "By the time I was old enough to understand what the military was like or to even consider it, my maternal grandfather had already passed," said Gutierrez. "My Papa Ralph was the one who really planted that seed in my mind [when] I was young about the military. But I never once thought that it would be something I could do or would even consider." "My grandfather's voice was still ringing in my ear and telling me, 'Just give it a shot,'" she recalled. "And so, I did. I took that leap of faith." Gutierrez enlisted in the United States Air Force in 2010. Her grandfather had also served in the Air Force. "I'm a faith-based person, and I believe that God led me down this path of being able to take a chance on enlisting," said Gutierrez. "I honestly believe that was the reason I was hitting one closing door after another. What I was doing out in California was not what I was supposed to be doing. So God opened up that door for me to be able to join. It was almost like a flawless opportunity… and it happened so fast. I was almost at the cutoff age at that point for joining." For six years, Gutierrez served as a security forces member, stationed at RAF Lakenheath in the U.K. She was deployed twice – once to Qatar and then to Djibouti. In 2014, everything changed for Gutierrez while she was in Djibouti. She described it as like "any other normal deployment." During the night shift, Gutierrez was in a vehicle when she got an eerie feeling. "I just had this feeling that something's not right, and I don't know what it was," she said. "I've never really had that before, ever. It was just a feeling that something's going to happen. And then a second later, the vehicle fishtails. We are spinning and rolling down this little ravine. It was kind of over a bridge but was still three or four rolls from what I remember. We landed right side up. That experience is what initially caused the traumatic brain injury that I was eventually diagnosed with." It wouldn't be until around 2018 that Gutierrez was diagnosed by a VA neurologist. "I constantly felt like there was a change in my brain," said Gutierrez. "Something is going on. I felt like there was something different about me, but I was never able to put a finger on it. I just thought there was something wrong with me. And then finally, I got that diagnosis and that really helped open up the door for healing." "You realize that, a lot of times, there are just things that you know are different, but you can't put your finger on it," she continued. "That's what was going on. Emotionally, I felt like some of my personality was a little bit different. My husband was picking up on this… but he had no idea what was going on. Physically, I felt fine, minus getting all of these headaches, but you would never have been able to see just from looking at me on the outside that there was anything that was going on." After nearly three years of "unemployment, confusion and invisible health struggles," Gutierrez wanted to make a difference. She went on to be crowned Ms. Veteran America in 2017, obtained an internship at her congressman's office in Georgia and pursued studies in social work. While working, her office received a copy of the Military Times. As Gutierrez flipped the pages, she came across an ad for DOVE or living kidney donation for veterans. "Not once in the three years that I have been there, have we ever received the Military Times," she chuckled. "I decided, 'Why not?' I'm in pretty good health, I'm an O+ blood type… Let's see if this is for me." On May 25, 2022 – the weekend of Memorial Day - Gutierrez donated her kidney to a veteran. On April 30, 2024, she donated 40% of her liver to an anonymous recipient. "The whole reason I wanted to donate to another veteran in need was because [it's] the most selfless thing you could do," she said. "We all serve our country. Those of us who wore the uniform, we served knowing that this was a selfless act… It's an extension of my military service and wearing the uniform." "And it was so special to be able to help save the life of a fellow veteran because that allows him and his family to continue their generation of whatever that looks like for them," she continued. "It could be service members, it could be whatever their profession is. But the point is that they're able to continue with their family and live the healthiest life possible now that they've been given a second chance." Life today is "normal" for Gutierrez. She has gone on to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest freestanding mountain above sea level in the world, in 2023. "It's even more important for me to take care of myself internally and externally, and do the things that are going to allow me to continue living as long as I can," she said. "I owe that to myself, and I owe that to the people that I donated to." She now hopes that as people hang up her photos, they'll feel empowered to also make a difference. "You don't have to save a life by donating an organ," she said. "You can do that simply by an act of selflessness, by going out and helping others in whatever that looks like to you. If it's donating your time, if it's a financial donation, there is a way that somebody can… give back in one way or another. I just want people to feel inspired to know that you can do that. You don't have to do an extreme act like I did… But, there's always a place for you in your community to be able to support others."
CBS News
01-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
South Florida neurosurgeon committed to helping others outside the operating room
Doctor Daniel Aghion saves lives as a neurosurgeon at Memorial Healthcare System, but his commitment to helping others goes way beyond the operating room. In 2021, the father of four donated one of his kidneys to a complete stranger — a 29-year-old woman in New York whose life depended on finding a match. "Knowing that what we did, really, me and my family, what we did, preventing a young woman from having to be on dialysis and the potential of, you know, a normal, healthy life for a young woman," he said. "It's not a feeling that you can really describe." Aghion had enrolled in a donor registry years earlier. A first match didn't work out, but when a second match came through. This time, with the young woman in New York, he didn't hesitate. "I decided that our job is really just to give, you know, my job is to give, and that's something that we try to live our life by," he said. Recovery took six weeks. He never met his recipient, but he did meet her parents. When asked if he would do it all over again, his answer was immediate. "One thousand percent. My life is normal. My life is entirely normal. I function the way I did, as if I were to have two kidneys," he said. "But this is a feeling that again I can't really describe in terms of the amount of good that we're able to do for other people." His story doesn't end there. In October 2023, while visiting family in Israel during the Jewish holidays, Aghion found himself amid the October 7 terrorist attacks. Rather than returning home, he stayed to treat the wounded. "And I put them on the plane and I essentially told my wife, I said, I'm not getting on the plane. I'm not going back home. She looked at me and she said, I know who I married," he recalled. "For me, that really gave me the motivation and tasked me with what I knew I needed to do." He worked around the clock, sometimes on 24-hour shifts, once again putting others first. "We can look at each other as strangers, or we can look at each other as brothers and sisters, and ultimately, for me, there's very few times in our lives where we're able to really have an impact and really show people what we're made of," he said. "I believe that we're really put in this world for one reason and that reason is to give in whatever capacity we can." It's a story that reminds us what's possible when we choose to give. Send us your story at MiamiProud@
Irish Times
30-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
The Story of a Heart author Rachel Clarke: ‘I couldn't stop thinking about this story'
The Story of a Heart is a beautifully written account of how the lives of two families – both facing immeasurable suffering – become inextricably entwined through the donation of a heart from a nine-year-old girl with catastrophic brain injuries to a nine-year-old boy with end-stage heart failure. First published in 2024, with compassion and clarity, Rachel Clarke draws readers into the details of the lives of Keira Ball's family, who made the decision to donate her organs when they realised that she wasn't going to recover from the injuries she suffered in a car crash which also left her brother Bradley and her mother Loanna seriously wounded. 'I couldn't stop thinking about this story when I first read about it in 2017,' explains Clarke, a palliative care doctor and former broadcast journalist. The two families had told the story of their meeting to journalist Jeremy Armstrong. This meeting broke all the rules of anonymity, usually sacrosanct in organ donation protocols. It came months after Loanna Ball reached out to Emma Johnson, the mother of Max, after the Ball family received their anonymous letter of thanks. READ MORE In her Facebook message to Johnson, Ball wrote: 'I think you may have our daughter's heart and it's the most beautiful heart in the world.' Max's identity was already public after the Daily Mirror had earlier told the story of his long wait for a heart transplant as part of its campaign for opt-out rather than opt-in legislation for organ donation. (When the legislation for opt-out organ donation was introduced into Britain in May 2020, the law was called Max and Keira's Law). The Story of a Heart will bring readers to tears again and again as the details of parents and siblings spending time with their youngest sister before she died are told in parallel to that of a young boy, hanging on by a thread, knowing that he will die without a heart transplant Clarke made contact first with Keira's family, meeting them for several hours, asking them to consider her telling their story. 'They immediately said yes, but I gave them a few months to change their minds. When they didn't change their minds, I approached Max's family and the NHS Blood and Transplant,' she explains. Therein began four years of research and interviews with family members and key health professionals who cared for both children and worked on the transplant teams. The Story of a Heart will bring readers to tears again and again as the details of parents and siblings spending time with their youngest sister before she died are told in parallel to that of a young boy, hanging on by a thread, knowing that he will die without a heart transplant. In June, Clarke won the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction for her extraordinary book. The prize, which complements the long-running Women's Prize for Fiction, was first awarded in 2024 after research found that female non-fiction writers were less likely to be reviewed (26.5 per cent of non-fiction reviews in national newspapers were allocated to female writers) or win prizes than their male counterparts (one in three prize winners across seven UK non-fiction prizes over the past 10 years were women). In the story, Clarke writes: 'From the moment Keira was fatally injured, her heart began a journey so momentous it was scarcely believable. First, there was the emergency chest compressions at the scene of the crash… Next, the strange metaphysical limbo between life and death as Keira lay in intensive care, warm, flushed, apparently sleeping, yet somehow – unfathomably - brain dead. Then, the moment when her heart was stilled by an anaesthetist's drugs so that the surgeons, silently at work within the cave of her chest, no longer faced a moving target. 'From there, the light-aircraft dash halfway across the country to deliver the organ, chilled on ice, into gloved and poised surgical hands. Finally, the intricate knitting of the heart's great vessels into another child's torso – and the agonising wait to see if its chambers would resume their vital work.' As well as telling the personal stories so sensitively, Clarke weaves through the book rich details of medical research and history. Such as the origins of intensive care units or the importance of immunosuppressant medicines or how the heart is the first of our organs to form and the last to die. Or how, one in five children die while waiting for an organ transplant. She also includes details such as how surgeons will sometimes write up operation notes for teddy bears, used for comfort, distraction and to demonstrate to a child certain procedures. And how a nurse can find time to bring a distraught sibling for a hot chocolate while his younger brother lies in hospital close to death. Clarke draws readers into the lives of these brave and dignified families sharing a time in their lives when they are at their most vulnerable. 'How Keira's family in the darkest, bleakest circumstances can summon all their strength to look outwards to save others from the fate that befell them,' she says. [ How to be an organ donor: 'The surgeon said he wasn't going to take my kidney out if I wasn't sure' Opens in new window ] Keira Ball's family have since set up the charity, Inspired by Keira, to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation and to support families in the south of England confronting the sudden loss of a child. And while she chronicles in detail the 'the modern day miracle of transplantation' and the hundreds of health professionals who make it happen, Clarke is also cogently aware that more organs are needed to be donated. 'When then [UK] prime minster Theresa May brought in the legislation for opt-out organ donations, it was to be called, Max's Law,' explains Clarke. But, after Max himself said it should be called, Max and Keira's Law, it was. Seven years on from his transplant, Max Johnson has just completed his GCSE exams. Similar legislation to allow opt-out rather than opt-in (ie, assumption that the person agrees to donating their organs unless they have specifically registered their objection to it) was introduced into Ireland in June 2025 . 'Changing the law has helped but not as much as people thought. Awareness is what counts. Make sure that you have signed opt-in for organ donation on your driver's licence and tell loved ones what your wishes are and ask your family members and children what their views are on organ donation,' she says. Because, in spite of the opt-out legislation now in place in Britain and Ireland, ultimately, it's the family who decides when facing the death of a loved one. 'If that person's wishes to donate their organs are known, 90 per cent of families will say yes, but if that person's wishes are not known, only 40 per cent will say yes,' explains Clarke. Clarke says that studying medicine as a mature student, she has always 'cared about patients as people, not just body parts'. She says that she firmly believes stories such as this display such deep humanity, making them an antidote to the depressing newspaper headlines and 'doom scrolling' that we all do. 'It says something very profound about our species,' she adds. [ Waiting for an organ donor: 'It was the beginning of the hardest chapter in our family's life' Opens in new window ] Clarke now works as a palliative care consultant in a hospital in England. 'I knew when I returned to study medicine as a mature student [she was 29 when she left broadcast journalism to train as a doctor] that I wanted to work in oncology, haematology or palliative care,' she explains. But that didn't stop her writing. Her first book, Your Life is in My Hands chronicles her life as a junior doctor. Next came, Dear Life, a book exploring death, dying and end-of-life care. And in 2020, she wrote Breathtaking, a book about the first wave of Covid in the UK which was later adapted for a television series. Clarke says that while being around dying people makes a lot of people nervous, she finds the combination of the physical and moral challenges fulfilling. 'End-of-life care is profoundly important. There is a huge amount you can do for people at the end of their life. 'In my work, I see more of the goodness, strength and decency people are capable of. It's not just the physical complications we have to deal with, but the suffering that comes with having to lose everyone in the world dear to you.' And, yes, it has influenced her entire philosophy of life. 'We are all a whisper away from tragedy. Living your life holding on to just how precious it is is an important way to try to live. We never get enough time to be with the people we love.'
