Missed Opportunities in Organ Donation: Study Shows More Lives Could Be Saved

A recent study examines how decisions made by Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) influence the number of organs available for transplant in the United States. These organizations coordinate the recovery of organs from deceased donors, but an important step is deciding whether to approach a donor’s family to request consent for donation.

Researchers analyzed data from 35,856 potential donors between 2016 and 2021 and found that organs were recovered from only 39% of donors whose organs could have been transplanted. Many opportunities were missed. About 16% of these missed donations were linked to overly cautious decision-making by OPOs, 12% to incorrect assumptions about whether families would agree or whether organs would be transplanted, while the majority—72%—occurred because families declined donation.

The study suggests that if OPOs approached families more often instead of being conservative, organ recovery could increase significantly. In fact, simply increasing the number of donation requests could lead to organs being recovered from 43% more donors, potentially generating over $100 million in additional annual societal benefit and saving many more lives through transplantation.

National Bureau of Economic Research. (2026). Improving organ procurement operations (Working Paper No. 34890). https://doi.org/10.3386/w34890