A near-organ harvest error in Kentucky—where a man mistakenly declared dead nearly had organs removed—has roiled public trust across donation systems. In the U.S., deregistrations from donor lists surged tenfold to 170/day. France’s opt-out donor registry saw spike from 100 to 1,000 refusals daily, signaling fragile confidence even in presumed-consent systems.
In South Asia, countries like India, Bangladesh, and Nepal could learn critical lessons: transparency must accompany opt-out policies to maintain public trust in organ donation systems.
