NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ — Senior leaders of a major organ donor organization are accused of directing medical staff to remove parts from an individual who still showed signs of life, recklessly discarding hundreds of organs, exploiting donors, and covering up other actions by deleting records.

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means (“the Committee”) said nearly a dozen whistleblowers say Carolyn Welsh, President and CEO of the New Jersey Organ and Tissue Sharing Network (NJTO), and others with the organization of carrying out elaborate schemes to raise their donor totals. In one case, it is alleged Welsh directed on-site hospital staff to proceed with a medical procedure despite the fact she is not a trained medical professional.

NJTO, based in New Providence, operates one of the largest organ facilitation operations in the state. The team of members, volunteers, healthcare, and community professionals work to recover and place donated organs and tissue

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In the past, NJTO has worked closely with state lawmakers on items such as the Immuno Bill and the 2008 Hero Act.

In 2024, NJTO said they recorded the “most lifesaving organ transplants” in their history at 743. At the same time, the state recorded its all-time high in donors during a single year at 297.

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Among the allegations presented by the Committee, NJTO is alleged to have thrown away 100 pancreata in what appeared to be a result of never intending to perform proper research using the organs. Whistleblowers said this was merely part of a continuous ploy to inflate the number of donors the organization was bringing in.

Duping Grieving Families

Through a partnership with New Jersey Motor Vehicles, the letter from Ways and Means states that families were allegedly duped by leaders with NJTO into believing their loved ones gave first-person consent to harvest their organs when no indication was actually available.

The Committee said the “extreme abuse of public trust…and potential violations of law” outlined in their letter is just the beginning of what they believe could be found from information they already have.

Under this NJMVC partnership, NJTO had access to “Documents of Gifts.” These records provide transaction histories for drivers in New Jersey.

According to the Committee, the records used by the NJTO were allegedly redacted to not include donor status.

Staff then allegedly used this information to tell families that NJTO already was authorized to remove organs despite not receiving patient consent or having evidence that they were listed as a donor.

Death Donation Cover Up

The Committee said a patient at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden was referred to NJTO for a potential donation in the spring. At the time, NJTO received consent from the patient’s family to proceed with gathering the organs.

The NJTO then scheduled withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy for organ recovery, and the donor was declared dead before any recovery process was started.

According to information secured by the Committee, the patient then showed signs of life, and the Administrator on Call, Alyssa D’AAddio, spoke with Welsh to review the case and how to proceed.

It was at this time that Welsh told D’Addio and NJTO staff to continue with removing the organs. Hospital staff rejected the direction, and the recovery did not move forward.

Multiple whistleblowers said information in this case was deleted and/or manipulated.

Discard Of 100 Pancreata

On March 26, 2024, 100 pancreata were thrown away after allegations of on-site reviews by federal agents at different organ processing organizations across the United States, according to documents obtained by the Committee.

This was just eight days after an email showed another staff member had said “a new research project involving pancreas research” was underway and that “we will let you know when we reach the number needed.”

The message came just weeks after The Washington Post reported that a wide-ranging federal operation would be looking into such organizations as they were “seeking to determine…whether any of these groups have been overbilling the government for their costs.”

A statement from Welsh at an all-staff meeting on Aug. 21, however, said that NJTO “has not changed [research] practices at the Sharing Network.”

Closing Response Window

The letter goes on to state additional allegations of recording data “out of sequence” and through “offline” methods like unrecorded phone calls on personal devices.

“You and the senior leadership of NJTO have cultivated a culture of fear and retaliation which has created a hostile working environment for the hardworking and dedicated frontline workers of NJTO,” the letter concluded.

Welsh and the NJTO have until Dec. 3 to respond with certain documents and make certain individuals available for recorded interviews.

Patch has reached out to Welsh and others within NJTO for comment.

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