Senate Committee Investigation Finds US Organ Transplant Network Failing, Endangering Lives

Dozens of deaths and illnesses in the United States among individuals who either received or were in need of organ transplants were caused by a lack of oversight from the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS), according to a Senate Finance Committee investigation report released on Aug. 3.

The Senate report (pdf) examined 1,118 complaints filed from 2010 to 2020 against organ procurement organizations (OPOs) by families, transplant centers, and anonymous individuals, among others.

Those complaints detailed a string of allegations, such as OPOs failing to complete critical, mandatory tests on patients for things like blood types, disease, and infection, and some patients having to have organs removed after the transplant.

The committee found that between January 2008 and September 2015, organs and tissues from 211 donors transmitted diseases, and 249 recipients developed donor-derived diseases.

Of the 249 people who developed diseases from the donated organs they received, 70 died.

Organs Left at Airports, Never Delivered

Elsewhere, the investigation found that 53 complaints had been submitted alleging “transportation failures” when life-saving organs were being delivered, including incidents in which the courier service requested by the OPO did not arrive in time to get the organs to their flight or transplant center.

In other cases, the organs were simply never picked up or abandoned at airports, the committee said.

According to the committee, the U.S. transplant network is failing and jeopardizing the lives of Americans.

The committee’s investigation found that the OPTN is failing to provide adequate oversight of the nation’s 57 OPOs, resulting in fewer available organs for transplant.

It also found that the lack of oversight by UNOS “causes avoidable failures in organ procurement and transplantation resulting in risks to patient safety,” including testing procedure errors and transportation issues that resulted in life-saving organs being lost or destroyed in transit.

The committee also said that UNOS “lacks [the] technical expertise to modernize the OPTN

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