LEXINGTON, Ky.—TJ Hoover sat in the front row as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced the impending decertification of the Network for Hope, a Kentucky-based organ procurement organization, on Aug. 5.
Hoover is a Richmond, Kentucky, man who narrowly escaped death in 2021 when doctors attempted to harvest his organs for transplantation while he was still alive.
Kennedy said the federal department had begun the process of decertifying the Network of Hope, a successor group to the one that organized the attempted procurement of Hoover’s organs.
“An organ procurement organization is entrusted with one of the greatest gifts that a human being could give: the gift of life,” Kennedy said at a press conference at the University of Kentucky. “That responsibility demands excellence. It demands transparency, and above all, it demands respect for the dignity and sanctity of every human life.”
Some 103,000 Americans are awaiting organ donations, according to federal data. Organ donations are coordinated by 55 organ procurement organizations in the United States.
Network of Hope, which oversees organ procurement in Kentucky and parts of Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia, had been under federal investigation starting in May.
The investigation uncovered 73 cases in which patients had neurological signs incompatible with organ donation, and that some potential donors may not have been dead at the time organ procurement began, according to a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Investigators found poor neurologic assessments, inadequate coordination with medical teams, questionable consent procedures, and the misclassification of causes of death, especially in cases involving drug overdoses, according to the statement.
Network for Hope disputed the investigation’s findings in an Aug. 5 statement, saying it complies with all Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network procedures.
CEO Barry Massa said the group pioneered a “pause in procedure” process, which is now incorporated into Kentucky law.
“Under [Health Resources and Services Administration’s] oversight, organ donation went down for the first time in 14 years,” Massa wrote.
Hoover’s sister, Donna Rhorer, described his experience to press conference attendees.
Hoover had suffered cardiac arrest and been unresponsive for several days. Yet, on the way to the operating room, she said, “His eyes were open. He was tracking me, and they told me it was just reflexes.”
“Then, during the heart catheterization, he was thrashing, crying, and grabbing the doctor’s hands to stop him,” Rhorer said.
Still, the process continued until the doctor refused to proceed, Rhorer said.
“Families deserve confidence that every patient is treated safely and every safeguard is followed before order recovery is ever considered,” she concluded.
Some 48,000 organ transplants were performed in 2024, according to federal statistics.
To provide continuity of care for patients currently awaiting transplants, Network for Hope will remain in place until a successor organization can be found. That’s according to Thomas Engels, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, the federal agency that oversees organ transplantation.
Asked whether Network for Hope would definitely be decertified, Engels told The Epoch Times that the process for identifying a successor is underway, overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Engels said the group would be carefully monitored by the Health Resources and Services Administration during the interim.
The department decertified a Florida organ procurement organization in September 2025 after an investigation found years of repeated safety violations.
