Ohio mother challenges organ donation consent rules after son's eyes were taken

Andrea Mauk’s 18-year-old son Damon died without being a registered organ donor, yet hospital officials and an organ-procurement organization reached out to his estranged biological father, who was absent from the boy’s records, and secured a brief phone "yes" for eye and tissue donation. Within half an hour, the consent was recorded and the tissues were sent overseas, eventually reaching an Argentine hospital. Mauk, who was Damon’s primary caregiver, was left uninformed despite contacting the hospital repeatedly, and she later learned that the father completed a detailed medical questionnaire about a son he barely knew.

Federal reviews have uncovered dozens of cases with similar consent concerns, leading the Department of Health and Human Services to order corrective actions and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to issue new patient-protection guidance. Mauk has taken the matter to the Ohio Supreme Court, winning a partial judgment and statutory damages for withheld records, and is now urging legislative reforms to tighten family consent requirements.