Trump administration to close Miami organ donation group it calls
'failing'
[September 19, 2025]
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration moved Thursday to shut down a
Miami organ donation group, calling it “failing” because of
underperformance, unsafe practices and paperwork errors.
The Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency is one of 55 organ procurement
organizations, or OPOs, nonprofit agencies around the country that
coordinate the recovery of organs from deceased donors and help match
them to patients on the nation’s transplant waiting list.
The administration cited an investigation that found a 2024 case where
an unspecified mistake led a surgeon to decline a donated heart for a
patient awaiting surgery.
In a news briefing, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services, said problems included would-be donations that
went unrecovered, sending some donated organs to the wrong place and a
lack of staff.
Life Alliance, a division of the University of Miami Health System, can
appeal the decision. If it is shut down, it would mark the first time
the federal government has decertified an OPO.
Life Alliance didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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 More than 100,000 Americans are on
the transplant list and thousands die waiting because there aren’t
enough donations to go around. Last year there were more than 48,000
transplants, a record, the vast majority from deceased donors.
Changes to the transplant system have been underway
for years to increase donations, reduce waste of potentially usable
organs and address other concerns. They include some new safeguards
after complaints last year that a different OPO didn’t stop donation
preparations quickly enough when some patients showed signs of life,
prompting some people to opt out of donor registries. Organ donation
can proceed only after a hospital has declared someone dead — and by
law, OPOs cannot be involved in that decision.
On Thursday, Oz sought to reassure would-be donors.
“Congress has thoughtfully and aggressively pursued some horrifying
stories that have chilled some Americans’ enthusiasm for donating
organs. We are here today to tell you this system is safe. It’s
rigorously being addressed,” he said, adding later, “I want to
applaud the OPOs that are doing a great job because most are.”
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