(Oregon Right to Life) — A young man is alive and recovering after being rescued at the last moment from having his organs harvested on the operating table. The story adds to a growing number of reports that have raised concerns about current policies regarding organ donation.
Larry Black Jr., 22, was brought into surgery at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, in late March 2019. He was scheduled to have his organs removed for donation after suffering a gunshot wound to the head the week prior, KFF Health News reported. Black was a designated organ donor, and his family had given consent for the procedure to take place – though in recounting the story later, Black’s sister said the family had felt pressured to agree.
Moments before the operation was to take place, first-year neurosurgeon Dr. Zohny Zohny heard an announcement over the hospital loudspeaker about a “hero’s walk” – which KFF Health News called a “tradition” that “honors the life of an organ donor before the harvesting process begins.” Unfamiliar with the phrase, Dr. Zohny asked about it and was informed that the ceremony was for his patient, Larry Black.
“No, that can’t be my patient,” Zohny said, according to the report. He called the ICU and learned that Black was indeed being taken to the operating room.
“This is my first year,” the neurosurgeon told KFF Health News. “Your first year out as a neurosurgeon is the riskiest time for you. Any mistakes, anything small, basically derails your career. So the moment this happened, my legs went weak and I was very nervous because, at the end of the day, your job as a doctor is to be perfect.”
Immediately after speaking to the ICU, Dr. Zohny informed his chairman about the situation and rushed into the operating room just as the surgical team was beginning to prepare Black’s body for organ harvesting, the report said. He ordered them to stop.
“This is my patient,” he reportedly told the surgical team. “Get him off the table.” When the team attempted to argue, pointing out that the family had already given their consent for the operation to take place, he shot back.
“I don’t care if we have consent,” he said, according to the report. “I haven’t spoken to the family, and I don’t agree with this. Get him off the table.”
With Black safe, Zohny had an emergency meeting with the young man’s family, the outlet reported. He showed them a brain scan, noting that it would actually be possible for Black to recover from his injury. He told Black’s mother they wouldn’t be going through with the organ harvesting: “I can’t kill your son,” he told the young man’s mother, according to Black’s sister.
Today, Black is 28 years old. He’s a musician and a father of three. He’s had to relearn many basic functions, like reading and walking, and still suffers from the side effects of his injury, the report noted. But he’s alive – and he doesn’t want to be an organ donor anymore.
Lindsey Speir, executive vice president for organ procurement at Mid-America Transplant, an organ procurement organization that operates in dozens of U.S. counties, including St. Louis County, told KFF Health News that the organization doesn’t comment on individual cases, but that it hasn’t pressured the families of patients into agreeing to organ harvesting.
SSM Health did not comment on Black’s case. But Kim Henrichsen, president of Saint Louis University Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital-St. Louis, told the outlet that the hospital system treats “all situations involving critical illness or end-of-life care with deep compassion and respect.”
Speaking with KFF Health News about the close call with Black, Zohny (who has since gone on to take a position at another hospital after finishing his fellowship at Saint Louis University Hospital) said the incident has stayed with him in the years since, raising concerns for him about seemingly systemic issues involved in organ donation, especially as it relates to understandings of brain activity and consciousness. But he declined to cast blame on the hospital or the organ procurement organization.
“There was no bad guy in this. It was a bad setup. There’s a problem in the system,” Zohny told the outlet. “We need to look at the policies and make some adjustments to them to make sure that we’re doing organ donation for the right person at the right time in the right place, with the right specialists involved.”
While organ donation can be a life-saving gift, potential malpractice and unethical practices jeopardize the dignity and right to life of donors.
In July, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Trump administration announced plans to reform the organ transplant system following “horrifying” revelations concerning organ procurement practices, including 28 people who may not have been deceased when organ procurement began.
“Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a July 21 statement, which cited a recent investigation by its Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
“The organ procurement organizations that coordinate access to transplants will be held accountable,” Secretary Kennedy said. “The entire system must be fixed to ensure that every potential donor’s life is treated with the sanctity it deserves.”
There are 55 organ procurement organizations throughout the U.S., National Review recently reported. Around 170 million Americans are registered organ donors, according to 2022 data.