FILE - Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, testifies at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
Trump administration to close Miami organ donation group it calls ‘failing’
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The Trump administration moved Thursday to shut down a Miami organ donation group, calling it 鈥渇ailing鈥 because of underperformance, unsafe practices and paperwork errors.
FILE - Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, testifies at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The Trump administration moved Thursday to shut down a Miami organ donation group, calling it 鈥渇ailing鈥 because of underperformance, unsafe practices and paperwork errors.
The Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency is one of 55 organ procurement organizations, or OPOs, nonprofit agencies around the country that coordinate the recovery of organs from deceased donors and help match them to patients on the nation鈥檚 transplant waiting list.
The administration cited an investigation that found a 2024 case where an unspecified mistake led a surgeon to decline a donated heart for a patient awaiting surgery.
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In a news briefing, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said problems included would-be donations that went unrecovered, sending some donated organs to the wrong place and a lack of staff.
Life Alliance, a division of the University of Miami Health System, can appeal the decision. If it is shut down, it would mark the first time the federal government has decertified an OPO.
Life Alliance didn鈥檛 immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 100,000 Americans are on the transplant list and thousands die waiting because there aren鈥檛 enough donations to go around. Last year there were more than 48,000 transplants, a record, the vast majority from deceased donors.
have been underway for years to , reduce waste of potentially usable organs and address other concerns. They include some after complaints last year that a different OPO didn鈥檛 stop donation preparations quickly enough when some patients showed signs of life, prompting some people to opt out of donor registries. Organ donation can proceed only after a hospital has declared someone dead 鈥 and by law, OPOs cannot be involved in that decision.
On Thursday, Oz sought to reassure would-be donors.
鈥淐ongress has thoughtfully and aggressively pursued some horrifying stories that have chilled some Americans鈥 enthusiasm for donating organs. We are here today to tell you this system is safe. It鈥檚 rigorously being addressed,鈥 he said, adding later, 鈥淚 want to applaud the OPOs that are doing a great job because most are.鈥
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute鈥檚 Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
