The US Department of Health and Human Services has begun decertifying Network for Hope, an organ procurement organisation serving Kentucky and parts of Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia. Federal reviews found serious and persistent patient-safety failures, including cases in which organ-harvesting procedures were started while patients still showed active signs of life.

The Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services initiated the action following its investigations into the organisation. The case raises concerns about safeguards, oversight and public confidence in the organ-donation system.