A report out from The New York Times confirms what many people fear when it comes to being an organ donor in the United States: sometimes medical professionals will value your organs more than your life. People across the US have experienced "rushed or premature attempts to remove their organs," including from patients who were crying or showing other signs of life.
Organ procurement organizations are non-profits with government contracts to arrange and coordinate transplants. The Times found that these groups sometimes rush doctors into doing organ harvesting while a patient is still potentially able to recover. In 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would begin grading procurement organizations on how many transplants they arranged. If procurement groups didn't meet the threshold, they would see an end to their contracts.
Per the Times: "The Times found that some organ procurement organizations — the nonprofits in each state that have federal contracts to coordinate transplants — are aggressively pursuing circulatory death donors and pushing families and doctors toward surgery. Hospitals are responsible for patients up to the moment of death, but some are allowing procurement organizations to influence treatment decisions.
