Lawsuit against HCMC for violating rights of organ donor is dismissed, donation moves forward

The organs of a woman declared brain dead Sunday at HCMC were at the center of a lawsuit seeking a judge’s intervention against the hospital on Monday.

LifeSource, the nonprofit that coordinates organ donation in Minnesota, alleged that staff at HCMC unlawfully refused to honor the organ recovery of the woman, whose driver’s license noted she had chosen to be a donor, because her family repeatedly said they didn’t want her organs donated.

On Monday afternoon, LifeSource dismissed the lawsuit and the request for emergency assignment of a judge and said both the family and hospital were no longer in opposition to the donation and it was proceeding.

No documents or paperwork were filed, but court records show Judge Michelle Hatcher entered the dismissal.

Hennepin Healthcare declined to comment on the litigation. A spokesperson with LifeSource said the filing was done in preparation in case the nonprofit needed to move forward “to protect the expressed wishes of the donor.”

The lawsuit came at a time when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is instituting sweeping reform to organ donations in the United States.

According to the lawsuit, the woman was pronounced brain dead Sunday afternoon. At that time, Dr. Matthew Prekker allegedly notified the woman’s family that death had been declared and “offered the family the option to withdraw life support, not recognizing the hospital’s obligation to honor the wishes” of the deceased woman.

The lawsuit sought a temporary restraining order and argued Hennepin Healthcare “must continue to provide mechanical ventilation” to the woman to preserve her organs for recovery and transplant.

LifeSource said Minnesota’s Uniform Anatomical Gift Act made the donor’s decision irrevocable, regardless of her family’s wishes, and that Hennepin Healthcare was in violation of state law.

Data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network shows that on Sunday there were 175 patients at HCMC awaiting kidney transplants. Statewide there were 1,907 people awaiting kidneys and 2,243 people waiting for transplants of any organ, including kidney, liver, pancreas, heart and lung.

In July, HHS announced it would reform its organ transplant system following an investigation by the Health Resources and Services Administration that found “disturbing practices by a major organ procurement organization” that operates in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. That investigation found that out of 351 cases, at least 28 patients may not have been dead at the time of organ procurement.

The national reform included that “data about any safety-related stoppages of organ donation called for by families, hospitals, or OPO staff must be reported to regulators.”

The reform of the organ transplant system has been a major priority for Kennedy. Last month, the department shut down an organ procurement organization in Miami over unsafe practices with Kennedy calling it a “clear warning” to other organ donation organizations.