US HHS Deputy Secretary critcizes Canada for it's organ donation after euthanasia program.

“We thought we’d seen all the possible horrors, you know, in America, and then Canada had this strange new horror that was really just shocking,”

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Gabrielle M. Etzel reported for the Washington Examiner on January 8, 2026 that US Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Jim O’Neill stated in an exclusive interview that Canada’s permissive physician-assisted suicide program has crossed ethical boundaries by how it has increased deceased organ donation rates through MAiD.

Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill

O'Neill also told the Washington Examiner

that he was disturbed to learn that Canada’s physician-assisted suicide program, operating under the label Medical Aid in Dying, has enabled it to become a world leader in organ transplant policy from deceased donors.

O'Neill stated that Health and Human Services are trying to:

"revive trust in the American Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network after multiple troubling reports of organs nearly being harvested from live patients in several states, including Kentucky and New Jersey."

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent a media release on July 21, 2025 about a study on organ donation and organ transplants in Kentucky, southwest Ohio, and part of West Virginia.

The Health and Human Services study examined 351 organ donation approvals and determined that in 103 of the cases the dead donor rule may have been violated.

I published three articles on the organ donation scandal (Article 1) (Article 2) (Article 3).

Etzel reported that:

O’Neill said that Canada’s program was uniquely problematic compared to even the most egregious stories in the U.S.

“We thought we’d seen all the possible horrors, you know, in America, and then Canada had this strange new horror that was really just shocking,” said O’Neill.

Etzel commented on a Canadian Medical Association Journal paper in 2024 that outlined a “substantial increase in deceased donation” in Quebec during the first years of the MAID program.

The paper stated that from 2018 to 2022, the number of deceased donors who died by physician-assisted suicide increased from 4.9% in 2018 to 14% in 2022.

Etzel then reported that:

The Canadian Institute for Health Information reported that 62 Canadians donated their organs out of 16,499 MAiD deaths in 2024, accounting for only 7% of the less than 900 total deceased donors across Canada.

O’Neill said that he has not spoken with his Canadian counterpart about the matter, but the apparent link between assisted suicide and organ donation rates in Canada “is very unfortunate.”

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition shares the concerns of Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Jim O’Neill concerning the connection between killing by euthanasia (MAiD) and organ donation in Canada. We are convinced that some people have asked be killed so they can offer their organs as an "altuistic act."

Link to articles about concerns related to organ donation (Articles Link).