Living Donation: What and How Safe It Is

Bureaucracy kills more transplant patients than shortage does. Jessica Wynn harvests the truth about organ donation's dark side here on Skeptical Sunday!

Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where Jordan and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we’re joined by writer and researcher Jessica Wynn!

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1253

On This Week's Skeptical Sunday:

• Over 100,000 Americans wait for organs while 13 die daily — not from organ shortage, but from systemic inefficiency, poor matching protocols, and bureaucratic bottlenecks that waste thousands of usable organs annually.
• Living donation is safer than most realize. Donors can give kidneys, liver portions, even lungs while alive and generally recover well, but workplace protections vary wildly by state, creating real financial and career risks for altruistic donors.
• The organ matching system is a bureaucratic labyrinth. HRSA, OPTN, UNOS, CMS, and CDC all overlap in managing transplants, creating inefficiencies that prevent organs from reaching recipients in time despite available technology.
• Ethical nightmares haunt the system. Scandals include surgeons nearly harvesting from living patients, global black markets exploiting the poor, and allegations of forced organ harvesting from prisoners in countries like China without consent.
• Register as a donor and advocate for reform. One donor saves up to eight lives and helps 75+ through tissue donation. Push for automated referrals, airline transport mandates, and better tracking tech to transform a broken but lifesaving system.
• Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at jordan@jordanharbinger.com and let him know!
• Connect with Jessica Wynn at Instagram and Threads, and subscribe to her newsletters: Between the Lines and Where the Shadows Linger!

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