A former emergency medical technician's firsthand experience inside the organ donation system has led to a profound personal transformation, a bitter legal battle, and a campaign to change the law. Mike O'Connor's story exposes a brutal reality behind transplants that few ever witness.
From Navy Medic to Organ Procurement Technician
After serving as an EMT in the US Navy, Mike O'Connor took a four-month role as a procurement technician for the California Blood Bank. His job involved removing organs, bone grafts, and tissue from cadavers for donation and medical research. This direct exposure permanently altered his perspective.
"One of the reasons I’m so against it is the way it’s done. It’s brutal," Mike states. He describes opening up bodies and removing not just grafts but entire joints. The clinical process, where a heart is kept pumping on a cold slab while specialists arrive hours later to harvest kidneys, left an indelible mark. He says the scenes will haunt him forever.
A Father's Worst Fear Realised
Mike's intimate knowledge of the system framed every decision when his 26-year-old daughter, Brittany O'Connor, fell critically ill in 2017. A mother of two who struggled with addiction, she was taken to Fresno Community Hospital after an apparent suicide attempt that left her without oxygen. She was declared brain dead.
Mike, recalling a conversation where he and Brittany agreed they never wanted to donate their organs, feared what would happen. "She always said: 'My heart is your heart, Dad.’ And I said: 'My heart’s yours too, don’t ever let them take mine'," he recounted. They wished to be buried intact.
As Brittany lay on life support, Mike insisted she was still responding to him and accused hospital staff of focusing on organ donation. After a confrontation, police escorted him from the premises. He told an officer he was afraid they would "kill her" and "pull the plug."
Frantic, he posted messages urging friends to call the hospital and stop them. He claims he was shut out of the process. No one from the hospital called him. He learned of her death three days later from the coroner, who also informed him her organs had already been removed.
Legal Battle and the Push for the 'Brittany Clause'
Brittany's death sent Mike into a spiral of addiction, unemployment, and homelessness. In 2018, he sued Fresno Community Hospital and Donor Network West, alleging her organs were taken without his consent. Although part of the case was dismissed in 2019, an appeals court ruled in 2022 that it could proceed.
Mike says the lawsuit is about exposing how organ procurement can override families and the law. He is now advocating for a change in California law, proposing a new provision requiring unanimous consent for organ donation. He wants it named the 'Brittany clause' to keep his daughter's memory alive.
His story unfolds against a stark backdrop of transplant need. In the United States, over 100,000 people are on waiting lists, with 22 dying each day before an organ becomes available, despite transplants saving over 40,000 lives annually. Experts like Michele Goodwin of Georgetown Law School argue the system has long failed to deliver inclusive medicine, with inequality widespread.
Mike O'Connor's journey from medical technician to grieving father and reform campaigner highlights the profound ethical and emotional complexities at the heart of the life-saving transplant industry.
