The Department of Health and Human Services began the process of decertifying a multistate organ procurement group a year after a federal investigation found the organization prepared dozens of patients for organ recovery while they were still alive, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Wednesday.
The cases included a Kentucky man, T.J. Hoover, who was brought to the operating table in 2021 for organ recovery even as he was thrashing in bed, crying and shaking his head. A congressman likened the account to a “horror movie” during a congressional hearing in July 2025.
The group, Network for Hope, is the second organ procurement organization to be decertified in a Trump administration crackdown after the HHS shut down Miami-based group Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency in September for mismanagement and safety concerns. These organizations, known as OPOs, have faced scrutiny for allegations of fraud and patient safety violations, but few have faced severe penalties.
“When an organization entrusted with the gift of life repeatedly puts patients at risk, the federal government has the duty to act, and that’s why we’re acting today,” Kennedy said in a Wednesday news conference.
Network for Hope CEO Barry Massa said in a statement that the group “strongly disagrees” with the HHS decision and will appeal.
“Despite NFH’s demonstrated dedication to improving organ and tissue donation outcomes across its service area, Secretary Kennedy has acted to decertify our OPO that serves 7 million people across four states,” Massa said. “… More than 3,000 people waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant will be negatively impacted by the decision announced today.”
Network for Hope, one of about 50 organ procurement organizations responsible for collecting organs from donors around the country, serves Kentucky and parts of Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia.
The HHS investigation into Network for Hope examined 351 cases in which organ donation was authorized but not completed between 2021 and 2024. In 73 of them, patients showed “neurological signs incompatible with organ donation,” the department said.
Hoover, the Kentucky man slated for organ collection in 2021, was unconscious but woke up before he was removed from life support, the New York Times previously reported.
Donna Rhorer, Hoover’s sister, said at the Wednesday news conference that coordinators with Network for Hope pressured physicians to continue with the organ collection surgery even as Hoover’s eyes opened. The physicians ultimately refused to operate on him.
“He was thrashing, crying, and grabbing the doctor’s hands to stop him,” Rhorer said. “… My brother almost died that day. That should never happen to anyone.”
Organ procurement organizations have a monopoly over the regions they serve and have historically faced little oversight, advocates for reform said.
Pressure on the groups has mounted in recent years amid scrutiny from Congress and federal investigators. The Justice Department launched a wide-ranging fraud investigation into organ procurement organizations in at least five states in 2024 (The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment). The Department of Health and Human Services under Kennedy has pledged to reform the country’s organ transplant system and crack down on groups accused of safety issues.
The Miami group is the first OPO ever to be decertified; Network for Hope would be the second.
“Decertifying dangerous OPOs is the only way to restore public trust,” said Greg Segal, the CEO of Organize, a patient advocacy group that advocates for reform in the organ transplant system.
Jennifer Erickson, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists and a former assistant director in the Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Obama administration, praised the HHS efforts but said more action is needed.
While Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency in Miami said last year that it would cooperate with the federal government, Network for Hope, if it appeals the HHS decision, could delay the process of replacing the group, Erickson said.
“Patients across four states … remain at risk everyday that Network for Hope is allowed to operate,” Erickson said.