In this Bell Work Talks Debra Holbrook discusses the practice of forced organ harvesting. She will discuss how breaking down silos and working with various stakeholders to advocate for victims. Awareness of what healthcare should be alert for in identifying potential victims is discussed. As a form of human trafficking Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting aims to provide the medical community and society with objective findings of unethical and illegal organ harvesting. Forced organ harvesting, the removal of organs from a donor, without obtaining prior free and voluntary consent, is considered a crime against humanity, as well as a threat to medical science in general.

Mrs. Holbrook attended The Union Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, in Baltimore, Maryland and completed both undergrad and graduate studies through the Wilmington University. After working in the field of critical care, Mrs. Holbrook founded a Forensic Nurse Examiner Program in Delaware that became a model of the United States (US Senate Subcommittee / Biden, 2002).

In 2002 she testified on Capital Hill before a Senate Judicial Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs on behalf of the Bill that was signed into law in 2005 as the DNA Justice Act. She is the recipient of numerous international awards, including the ANCC Magnet International Nurse of the Year, the Delaware Nurse of the year, the International Association of Forensic Nurses Pioneer Award, the 2014 Most Influential Marylanders in Healthcare, Distinguished Fellow – Academy of Forensic Nursing, and the prestigious Fellow American Academy of Nursing. She has authored grants totaling over 15 million dollars to benefit victims of major person’s crimes and lectures nationally for the Office for Victims of Crime, educating medical professionals across the country. She has conducted over 200 pediatric and adult SANE educational offerings both nationally and internationally. She recently presented at the World Summit on combating and preventing forced organ harvesting.

Resources:

https://dafoh.org/