The recent announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services that it will move to decertify one of the nation’s organ procurement organizations is one important element of a process to restore trust in America’s system of organ donation. But HHS should take further actions to build upon the Trump administration’s prior reforms and ensure that vulnerable human beings are never commoditized for their organs.

The action against the OPO serving Kentucky and parts of three neighboring states comes after horrific incidents involving patients’ organs being removed for donation while their bodies still showed signs of life. A federal investigation found that, of 351 cases between 2021 and 2024 where organ donation was authorized, but not completed by the Kentucky OPO, nearly one-third (103 cases) “had concerning features, including 73 patients (20.8%) on whom either the initial or subsequent neurological findings should have prompted earlier consideration of terminating” organ recovery. The New York Times reported on a separate incident where Alabama surgeons opened up a patient’s........

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