The United States Subcommittee listened to the testimonies of the donations of organs on Tuesday after fraud in the administration for resources and health services. (Photo: Getty Images)
Washington – the heads of several organ transplant organizations testified before Congress on Tuesday that they are working on regaining the trust of society after the release of a virulent report.
In a sporadic example of two -party capitol, both Republicans and Democrats on the Subcommittee on Energy and American Trade expressed concern about several matters and interest in increased supervision of organ management entities.
The main issue, according to the testimonies of witnesses and comments of legislators, is that organizational donations are increasingly coming from people experiencing circulation death as opposed to brain death.
Dr Raymond Lynch, head of the Department of Orgman transplantation in the administration of health resources and services in the US Department of Health and Social Welfare, said that “it was historically a less common path”, but now it accounts for about 50% of all donations.
“This is a complex care. It is technically demanding, but you can get to know and fix it,” said Lynch. “This is something that can be done safely.”
The chairman of the Brett Guthrie, R-ky Committee on the Energy and Trade Committee.
The case later became the subject of investigation into the supervision and plan of repair activities from the administration for health resources and services, which focused on maintaining the organization of organs for this region.
. HRSA reports He states that the man came to the “hospital in the northern Kentucky with a heart -free fall after the unintentional overdose of methamphetamine.” As part of treatment, health care workers gave three different sedatives.
The report states that while the patient “survived events related to the attempt to withdraw the maintenance of life and orders of the organs, repeated assessment by (entities associated with Kentucky organs) that he is” satisfied and reliable the donation process “is unique with the facts of medicine.”
Guthrie said that the report showed “a deeply disturbing pattern” and that the committee wanted to “conduct an open and honest discussion about these failures.”
“Hrsa determined that out of 351 documented cases proven in this investigation 103 or almost 30% had functions,” said Guthrie. “Hrsa was found regarding patterns that included failure to recognize increased neurological function in patients previously identified as candidates for organs, lack of cooperation with medical teams and lack of protection of decision making or compliance with the best practices.”
The United States has over 50 different organ order organizations responsible for different geographical areas. Determine which patients are entitled to transfer the organs. They should not be involved in determining when the potential donor is recognized as the hospital died by the medical team.
Guthrie said that he did not intend to change his status of an organ donor, but emphasized the need to improve.
“A disturbing record”
Lynch refused to describe in detail during a public interrogation, but said that Hrsa conducts several ongoing research on potential offenses in the organs of the organs. He also said that anyone who wants to lodge a complaint can do it On the Agency’s website.
“There are many cases reported to Hrsa,” Lynch testified. “We have continuous reviews and we referred to partner agencies. The repair plan, which we have for Kentucky, because we have heard about these other cases in other areas, it also includes a plan to (network of order orders and transplantation) to do so safe throughout the country.”
The New York democratic representative Paul Tonko asked Lynch about the section in the Hrsa report that “he identified a disturbing record of Kentucky Opo communication with patients’ families.”
“In one case, OPO employees looking for permission to start preparations for organs spoke to the patient’s brother who had cognitive disorders. This person was described as, and I quote a child, in the case of entries,” said Tonko. “In a separate matter, OPO talked to two family members who, quoting, clearly turned up.”
Lynch said that HRSA records reviewed during the investigation did not explain why it happened, but said that the inability to “consider humanity and the autonomy of these patients and their families is disturbing.”
Tonko said that Hrsa reported that OPO employees seemed to apply a “manipulative and too aggressive strategy” in the Kentucky case.
“The patient’s sister from Kentucky said that she was never told that her brother began to wake up after she agreed to the donation,” said Tonko. “She says she only found out many years later.”
Repair plan for Kentucky
Lynch said Repair plan In the case of organizing orders of organs in Kentucky, previously known as associated entities from the donors of Kentucky organs, but now called Network for Hope, it requires family updating staff and ensures that “at any time the healthcare team or the family are concerned that in this process there is stopping the process to enable this.”
He also pointed out that there may be a better understanding of how employees deal with discussions about whether donations to the authorities of the person.
“It is, as you pointed out, one of the most terrible and difficult times in the life of the family,” said Lynch. “The events that lead to the fact that someone has become a potential organ donor are usually suddenly and tragic. In interaction with a desperate family, helping them make educational decisions, providing sympathetic and sincere information and a full feeling of what the order process will look like, these are skills.
“They are skills that some OPO clearly achieve better than others, but are the skills for which OPO is responsible.”
The organization accepts supervision with satisfaction
Barry Massa, General Director of Network for Hope – Organization of Organ Orders, which includes Kentucky, as well as parts of Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia – testified before the committee that the content of the HRSA report “is serious and disturbing.”
“This matter was very complex and in a very complex time,” Massa said. “If you remember, in 2021 we were during Covid and I think that it influenced communication between our hospital and our team. And although I do not use it as an excuse, I think it added it to complexity.”
Under the oath of Massa, she testified that the organization never wants to repeat what happened in this matter, plans to follow the recommendations described in the HRSA report and with satisfaction is more supervised by Congress.
He said that Network for Hope also introduced some its own changes, including a control list for nurses and doctors.
Later, Massa explained that “although Opo is determining whether the patient is suitable for the donation when it comes to deciding about death, the doctor actually performs.”
Divide
Other panel members explained that the supervision over the supply of organ and donation is crushed and requires improvement.
Maureen McBride, general director of United Network for sharing organs, testified that Medicare & Medicaid Services centers have supervision over the hospital and a network of orders and organs “has supervision as part of HRSA transplant hospitals, OPO and the histocompatibility laboratory.”
“This division into supervision leaves room for communication gaps and the possibility of further improvement,” said McBride. “So I think that the consolidation of the entire transplant ecosystem under one government regulatory body can benefit the transplant community.”
Dr. Richard Formica, former president of the management board of organs and transplants of the board, said that the trial includes “two areas of responsibility” and suggested that they would be moved under one supervision agency.
Formica said that legislators can learn that after identifying the patient as a potential organs donor, there is one set of procedures that should be observed on the hospital side, which are currently managed by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services and a system of organs, managed by HRSA.
“We would have one set of supervision. We would have one set of protocols,” Formica said. “We can work on these protocols, and then we can act on these protocols and improve them as we identify, instead of improving one and wait for the other, there and back.”
