A former employee of an organ recovery group said in a letter to a congressional committee that in 2021 Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates tried to harvest organs for transplant from a patient who was still alive. Nyckoletta Martin said a man who was incorrectly listed as brain dead woke up in a Kentucky hospital. But KODA wanted to proceed with the operation anyway, Martin said. Martin called it an alarming case of patient abuse. Organ transplantation in the United States is overseen by a Richmond-based contractor, the United Network for Organ Sharing, a spokesperson for the contractor, said UNOS was unaware of the allegation until it was referenced at a Congressional hearing Wednesday by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
