A New Mexico woman who survived a coma is speaking out after nearly having her organs harvested while still alive, as a damning new report raises serious questions about the integrity and ethics of the organ procurement industry in the United States.
Danella Gallegos, 38 at the time, was homeless and comatose when doctors at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque told her family there was no hope of recovery. The family agreed to donate her organs — until signs of life forced medical staff to call off the procedure just in time.
“She Was Still There”: Sister’s Instinct Saves Her Life
According to family members, they noticed tears in Danella’s eyes in her final hours — a detail dismissed by organ procurement staff as mere reflexes. On the day her organs were to be harvested, a sister insisted Danella moved in response to being touched.
Doctors brought her into a pre-surgery room. That’s when, on command, Danella blinked — a clear, conscious reaction.
Despite this, a New Mexico Donor Services coordinator allegedly told doctors to continue with the organ harvest by sedating her with morphine, according to The New York Times.
Hospital staff refused, canceled the surgery, and ultimately saved Gallegos’s life. She went on to fully recover.
“I feel so fortunate,” Gallegos said. “It’s crazy to think how close things came to ending differently.”
Pressure to Harvest: “All They Care About Is Getting Organs”
Presbyterian Hospital staff have since accused New Mexico Donor Services of applying inappropriate pressure on medical personnel to proceed with organ harvesting — a charge the organization denies.
“They’re so aggressive. It’s sickening,” said veteran ICU nurse Neva Williams.
A hospital investigation is now underway, and the donor organization’s ethics are under scrutiny, with critics saying the industry has shifted toward volume-driven quotas rather than patient safety.
A National Pattern of Mistakes — and Near-Deaths
Danella’s story is not isolated. Across the country, there have been similar near-miss cases:
-
Anthony Hoover, 2021 – Declared near-death and nearly harvested before regaining consciousness.
-
Misty Hawkins, 2023 – Doctors began cutting into her chest to remove organs only to discover she was still breathing and her heart was beating. She later died.
A federal investigation in Kentucky found 73 cases in which the state’s organ procurement agency ignored signs of consciousness, including one patient who pulled his knees to his chest.
Donation After Circulatory Death: A Controversial Trend
Much of the concern surrounds the rise of “donation after circulatory death” (DCD), a practice in which organs are removed from patients not legally brain-dead, but expected to die soon after life support is withdrawn.
-
In 2023, DCD accounted for one-third of U.S. organ donations, tripling since 2018.
-
The short time window between life and organ viability means decisions are rushed, increasing the risk of harvesting from living patients.
Industry Under Federal Scrutiny
Under a 2020 directive from the Department of Health and Human Services, organ procurement organizations are graded based on the number of successful donations — incentivizing more aggressive tactics.
Medical professionals are increasingly raising red flags but fear speaking out, worried it could discourage donations or threaten their careers.
“I don’t know the scope of the problem. I don’t know that anybody does. That’s the scary thing,” said Dr. Robert Cannon, transplant surgeon at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“We’ve created a system where some doctors feel pressured to stay silent.”
