A transplant industry whistleblower claims she was pressured to harvest organs from a person who was still ALIVE and was fired after complaining

A former employee of a nonprofit organ recovery group said she was asked to harvest organs from a person who was still alive and then fired after raising her concerns to members of Congress.

Nyckoletta Martin, 38, made the latest revelations to the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, describing how she was fired by organ harvesting group Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates on Sept. 13.

Days earlier, a letter she wrote to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations was read and discussed on the House floor after she alleged that there is currently disproportionate pressure on organ harvesters.

Referring to the Kentucky organ procurement group where she worked, she recalled being pressured to retrieve a patient’s organs before he died, while he was awake. The patient later walked out of the facility alive, Martin said, choosing not to reveal his name.

Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, or KODA for short, is one of 56 federally licensed nonprofit organizations tasked with procuring organs for transplant. A spokesman said the company “strictly adheres” to national laws and guidelines set by the U.S. government.

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“What has become clear to me from my time at KODA is that (the organ procurement organization) does not operate in the best interest of patients,” Martin, a mother of five, wrote in the letter to the committee.

“(The group) regularly engages in unethical activities with the sole purpose of trying to retain its lucrative government contract,” he added.

The letter went on to state that when one surgeon refused to follow officials’ orders, Martin and other workers were ordered to find another surgeon who would do so voluntarily.

They too refused, he said, allowing the patient to leave alive after recovering.

The reading did not clarify the patient’s condition or illness, as other statements sent by alleged witnesses who said they had witnessed similar activity were also read.

They all insisted that organ procurement groups in several states – such as KODA – have started pressuring workers and surgeons to harvest organs from patients who were still alive.

Robert Cannon, a liver transplant surgeon at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told the committee he was allegedly ordered to harvest organs from a spontaneously breathing patient, which he said “would have been murder.”

Greg Segal, head of an advocacy group seeking to reform the organ procurement process, alleged that another Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) had given potential organ donors doses of fentanyl to speed up their deaths.

She provided no evidence to back up those claims, as was the case with Martin, who is a mother of five.

She said the incident in question occurred at a Kentucky hospital in 2021, and that the man KODA wanted her to retrieve organs from was “crying” and “shaking his head” as she, the surgeon and other procurement workers refused his requests.

She told the Journal how she later left her job at KODA and found work at Paragonix, a leading company in organ transportation products and services.

There, he helps surgeons prepare organs for transit after they are removed from deceased donors.

She also connected the paper with the sister of the patient she says was nearly murdered, Donna Rhorer.

While she did not corroborate Martin’s claims, the woman said her brother has improved since leaving the hospital three years ago, but still has brain damage and is receiving speech and occupational therapy.

No further details were provided.

Meanwhile, the House Energy Subcommittee held a meeting to address the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) ongoing updates to the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network, to which companies like KODA belong.

There, representatives took turns criticising UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing), the body that runs the OPTN. Others called for “reform”, “transparency” and “accountability”, as well as a “complete overhaul” of organ transplant systems.

Dr. Cannon at one point said, “I was advised by an OPO administrator to proceed with organ procurement despite legitimate concerns that the donor was still alive.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Karp alleged corruption and mismanagement by both UNOS and OPTN, and accused the board and committee volunteers who manage both institutions of being “industry insiders” who have inherent conflicts of interest with their institution or professional organizations.

In broad daylight, the OTPN suppresses data suggesting that new policies increase organ discards and lead to more patient deaths, and continues to ignore the increased discards, complexity, and costs generated by its new policies,’ he said.

‘In broad daylight, the OTPN takes credit for the increase in donations even though these numbers are driven by technological advances and deaths from the opioid epidemic.

“Behind the scenes, OPTN leaders ensure that no OPO leader will be held accountable for their poor performance and seek to avoid competition,” he continued.

‘They threatened to sabotage any new contractors by refusing to hand over data and share data centers, and they intimidated and retaliated against those in the community with whom they disagreed.’

The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office said it is investigating the allegation against KODA, which later criticized Martin’s claims in a statement.

“Our commitment to ethical practices means that we follow rigorous protocols to ensure patient safety and integrity throughout the organ donation process,” it reads.

‘Organ donation only takes place after the patient has been declared dead by doctors independent of the treating hospital, and we have clear procedures to follow if the patient’s condition changes.

‘We do not make death determinations or compromise ethical standards for organ donation.’