Tenaya’s Take on the Washington Post’s Propaganda

Honestly, it’s impressive.

Organize is so adept at getting news stories placed in the Washington Post (notice they target the Post…because their goal is policy change, not public education or awareness) that they can literally be the only source for an article.?

I often wonder what Organize could have done with their $1.7 million spent on lobbying and millions more in earned media if their focus was on increasing organ donation rates, rather than burning down the best organ donation system in the world.?

What could Organize have done to inspire the public to register or to encourage living donation (which is the only way to meet the need for kidneys)?

Instead, Organize manipulates the media with a horror story of “fraud” and the Washington Post laps it up. Savoring every kernel of propaganda. Delighted to take on the windmills.?

Here are my favorite out-takes from the most recent Washington Post hit piece driven by the Organize Propaganda Machine.

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“according to six people familiar with the inquiry”?

Seriously? This is what journalistic standards have come to? Six unnamed people can give you their version of events, and you can call it news.?

“defrauding the government”?

Such a great phrase isn't it? It immediately gets readers of the Post up in arms. No matter if there is no fraud. This simple phrase forever connects OPO’s to that dastardly deed, which is the goal of the Organize Propaganda Machine.?

“but an investigation led by federal prosecutors — which carries the possibility of criminal charges — could be the gravest threat yet to the status quo in the troubled, multibillion-dollar organ transplant industry”??

They threw the kitchen sink into this sentence. I feel like Organize cut this paragraph directly out of their propaganda handbook.

I think I will fix the sentence: “But an investigation could find that the American organ donation system is the best in the world and that the non-profit organ procurement organizations are seeing year over year increases in the number of families they serve, and the number of lives saved, due to investments like Donor Recovery Centers and medical advancements like DCD and NRP."

“Each procurement group holds a government-guaranteed monopoly over a swath of U.S. territory where it operates.”?

The Organize Propaganda Machine is big on banging that monopoly drum. Monopolies are low hanging fruit because no one wants a monopoly. Except when they are necessary, like in organ donation.?But Organize is too stubborn to see the difference. I was going to say too stubborn or too stupid, but they aren't dumb. They just honestly believe their own propaganda and won't see it any other way.

“Some have failed for years to collect enough organs to meet demand, according to government records.”?

No citation. No link. And are you basing these numbers on the inaccurate metrics that aren’t yet in effect and are being challenged because they are unsound?

“One thrust of the investigation appears to be whether any of the nonprofits have violated the federal False Claims Act by knowingly billing the federal government for unallowable costs, according to the people aware of the investigation. All of them spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to comment on an ongoing government inquiry.”

OK, here we get to the meat. Note that later in the article the writers say that False Claims Acts goes into effect when there is a whistleblower. And if Organize doesn't see itself as the top diggity dog whistle blower! Oh yes indeed. Blowing propaganda whistles all over the place!

But more to the point: If you have ever seen an accounting department in an OPO you have seen people who fully understand what to bill to whom. Organ reimbursement is very complicated, and highly specialized. The OPO’s know how to account for everything they do and every organ they place.?

But Organize has loved this line of attack for a while now. They came in hot trying to prove that OneLegacy was using Medicare money for the Donate Life Float. And OneLegacy showed that no, they were not.

Unfortunately, we are already seeing the unintended consequence of this attack. It has made the OPOs super nervous to invest in national public education or fund partner organizations that can provide cremation to the poorest donors. Which is really sad, because disinvestments due to ridiculous accusations will weaken the system, not strengthen it.

“Another line of investigation is whether there have been kickbacks between organizations in this tightly knit, lightly regulated corner of U.S. medicine, according to one of these people.”

Kickbacks is another great buzzword. This is the first time I have heard them talk kickbacks, but it makes sense. It all goes to create a narrative about the donation system. A system that told a Rich Man that he couldn't sell the data of people who signed up to be donors.

“Organ procurement executives have acted with complete impunity for decades,” said Greg Segal, co-founder of Organize, an activist group that seeks widespread reform of the transplant industry. “They should not be above the law.”

Oh hey Greg! We see the man, the myth, the legend by NAME in this article. A rare appearance. He usually lets others be his mouthpiece. But that description of Organize is certainly flattering. Greg sounds like he needs a damn cape!

What makes me so sad about this quote is that Greg really believes he is the hero in this story. He has no ability to see the unintended consequences of his propaganda. He believes his bullshit. He is the ultimate embodiment of “Rich Man Syndrome.” A disease that sickens our nation whereby a Rich Man, believing himself the savior of a certain cause, flies in with millions of dollar, ill-fitting ideas and flavorful half-truths that their cronies in politics and the media shovel out on their behalf.?

“Despite decades of improvement efforts and increasing numbers of transplants, more than 103,000 people remain on the U.S. waiting list for organs, the majority of them seeking kidneys. Some die every day.”

I fixed it: "Despite record numbers of transplants over the last five years, due in large part to innovations by the federally designated non-profit Organ Procurement Organizations, there remains a waiting list for organs. This is because the number of people who are medically able to donate at the time of death is very small, less than one percent. Because most people waiting are in need of a kidney transplant, the only way to get everyone transplanted is to increase the number of living kidney donors and work to prevent diseases like diabetes, which leads to kidney failure."

“The federal investigation is the latest attempt to address long-standing allegations by some lawmakers, activists and people in the transplant industry that the system is mismanaged and that some officials use it to enrich themselves and their organizations.”

The activists are Organize. The lawmakers are because of the Organize Propaganda machine. The people in the transplant industry are people who have developed and believe the Organize Propaganda as well as transplant surgeons who oppose broad organ sharing and are pissed off at UNOS.

“The committee inquiry also blamed the federal contractor that runs the transplant system for lax oversight of careless treatment of donated organs and organs lost in transit. And it revealed that the entire system for transporting organs relied on out-of-date technology that the government had never audited for security weaknesses and other flaws.

They are talking about UNOS. The ONE thing every medical show gets right. The keepers of the list. UNOS is one of the good guys for real, and Organize has twisted them into the enemy. Now the new Organize policies are going to bring billionaire companies into the organ matching process. It sickens me. Oh and in the paragraph following this one they call UNOS a monopoly, because name calling is what bullies do.?

“Investigators want to know whether some procurement groups may be using VA donors as a source of revenue-generating body tissue and leaving badly needed organs behind, according to the person most familiar with that part of the investigation. Taking out organs requires more expertise and expense than collecting tissue, which, in some cases, yields substantial amounts of money for organ procurement groups.”

You mean, there were more people able to be tissue donors than organ donors and you think that is sus? It’s not sus man. It’s science. Tissue comes from people who die because their heart stops. That is most of the people who die, so most people can be tissue donors. Organ donors come from people who are brain dead, or whose families withdraw ventilation, which is called DCD. In both cases patients must be in the hospital, on a ventilator and not have cancer to be considered for donation. This is not a lot of people, less than 1% of people who die. Therefore, most people can not be organ donors. It makes sense that VA donors are mostly tissue donors and not able to be organ donors.?

“The letters alleged that organ procurement organizations and their executives “have engaged in a complex web of financial relationships with tissue processors, researchers, testing laboratories, and logistics providers, which have the potential for creating conflicts of interest.”

So let me get this straight. Senators wrote a letter and accused organ procurement organization leadership of building the infrastructure and relationships needed to increase the number of organs and tissue available year after year? All of those people you mention are part of the organ and tissue process. They all work together. To create the best system in the world. Again, not sus.?

“In a December lawsuit, one procurement group accused a neighboring one of trying to lure away a large nonprofit health-care network in Reno by offering $6 million to help start up a new organ transplant program.”

OMG. What the FUCK do you THINK is going to HAPPEN when tiers of OPO’s get decertified every fucking YEAR based on faulty data and inaccurate metrics? This kind of crap is going to happen ALL THE TIME once the Organize Policies take effect!?

You don’t want monopolies covering a certain service area anymore? Monopolies are evil and must be destroyed?! Fine, then you are going to have competing for-profit companies trying to poach every high-yield donor hospital while totally ignoring the small community hospitals. It is going to be a SHIT SHOW! And the unintended consequences are going to be a bloodbath. People are going to die because of Organize policies

I am exhausted by this insanity.

I am overwhelmed and angry that our Fourth Branch of Government is spinning lies and heaping on the Organize Propaganda. I am sad that politicians, especially the good ones like Katy Porter, have gotten caught up in the Organize Lie. I am so aggravated that people will believe a silver-bullet story from someone who has no idea how donation works and without getting to know the people who actually run and work to improve the system.

People who work for the OPO's are the most wonderfully dedicated people I have ever met. I can not tell you the length and degree to which OPO's strive to both serve and support families and increase the number or organs available for transplant. Being part of the OPO world was such an incredible experience, to be surrounded by both excellence and pure love.

I am heartbroken that the public is fed these non-existent fears about donation, to pile on their already existent fears that Hollywood creates. I am crushed that policymakers and the public don’t see the system for what it is, strong and effective and filled with heart.?

The United States has the best organ donation system in the world because it is a monopoly. Because it is non-profit. Because it has relationships with all aspects of the organ and tissue system and supply-chain. Because it is tightly knit. The dystopian scenario that Organize has created is so far from the truth that it huts.