Organ Recovery Groups Face Uncertain Future as Reforms Kick In

In the pre-dawn hours of August 7, tearful family members of Orlando Rios followed the gurney that carried his body down the hallways of an Albuquerque, N.M., hospital lined with mournful friends and staff.

The “honor walk” for the 28-year-old Rios marked both the tragic end of a life cut short by drug overdose and the beginning of efforts to sustain other lives through organs he donated.

Within days, New Mexico Donor Services, one of the nation’s 56 organ procurement organizations, helped arrange for an Illinois man to receive Rios’ heart. His kidneys would go to a ...