Ohio mother was in Costa Rica when 18-year-old son died in car crash; hospital never contacted her, she later learned his body parts were removed as ‘anatomical gifts’ without consent
For Andrea Mauk, the phone call telling her that her 18-year-old son Damon had died was already a moment no mother should ever have to endure. But while she was thousands of miles away in Costa Rica, grieving a son she could not reach, another decision was being made about his body.When Mauk finally returned home, she says she learned that parts of Damon’s body had been removed as “anatomical gifts” without her knowledge or consent.“I was completely devastated,” Mauk, 42, told The New York Post. “I went to the funeral home and couldn’t even look at him after they’d taken pieces of his body. They stole my son’s eyes. I didn’t want to remember Damon like that.”
A mother left grieving from another country
Damon had only just graduated from high school. He was studying for his real-estate license and, according to his mother, was at a stage in life where his future was beginning to take shape.On June 24, 2023, his car reportedly slid off a rural road in Lucas, Ohio, and crashed into a tree. Mauk was in Costa Rica with her husband and friends when her parents gave her the devastating news.“They had to sedate me,” she recalled.What has haunted Mauk ever since, she says, is that the hospital never called her. She was listed as Damon’s primary emergency contact, and she says her phone number was readily available in his records.Damon was not a registered organ donor.Yet, according to Mauk, consent for tissue donation was obtained from his biological father, a man she says had played little role in their son’s life.
‘A call to me was all I wanted’
Andrea Mauk says she was never contacted before tissues, including her son Damon’s eyes, were recovered after his death. Now, she is campaigning for stronger safeguards around tissue donation and family consent. (Photo: Andrea Mauk)
Mauk says she was not opposed to donation itself. What devastated her was being excluded from the decision at the moment she was losing her son.She later learned that Damon’s eyes, skin, heart valves, ligaments and other tissues had been recovered as “anatomical gifts.” Some of the tissue, she says, was subsequently sent to research or biologics organizations, while his eyes were sent to Argentina.For a mother who says she had been deeply involved in her son’s life, the experience left her feeling powerless.“I loved Damon very deeply,” she said. “I had him when I was very young and we always joked that we brought each other up. We were incredibly close.”Then came the words that perhaps best capture what she believes could have changed everything: “A call to me was all I wanted.”
Her grief became a campaign for change
Mauk says she does not want Damon’s story to be interpreted as an argument against organ or tissue donation. Instead, she wants families to have a stronger voice and hospitals to follow clearer procedures when a potential donor dies.Her personal loss eventually turned into advocacy. Mauk contacted lawmakers and testified before the Ohio Senate about what she believes are gaps in the law. She also launched a Change.org petition calling for “Damon’s Law”, which seeks stronger safeguards around tissue donation and family notification.“I believe in organ donation,” Mauk said. “This is not about ending the gift of life.”For her, the issue is about consent, communication and dignity — particularly for families confronting an unexpected death.
Organ donation system faces wider scrutiny
Mauk’s campaign comes at a time when the US organ procurement system is facing increased federal scrutiny.On July 21, the US Department of Health and Human Services, under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced an initiative to reform the organ transplant system and establish clearer, enforceable policies concerning donor eligibility.The move followed an investigation into a major organ procurement organization serving Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. Investigators raised concerns about cases in which patients may not have been deceased when procurement procedures began, as well as neurological assessments, coordination with medical teams and consent practices.Organ and tissue donation in the US is governed by a combination of federal and state regulations. Hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid are required to notify organ procurement organizations of deaths and imminent deaths, even when a patient is not a registered donor.OPOs are then responsible for approaching families of potential donors. The system has faced criticism over how families are contacted and how consent discussions are handled.
‘Damon deserved to have dignity in death’
For Mauk, the debate over organ donation is inseparable from the memory of her son.She says Damon was more than a potential donor. He was the boy she raised, the young man whose future she watched unfold and someone she describes as the “light of her life.”Her fight is now about making sure other families do not experience what she says she went through.“Damon deserved to have dignity in death,” Mauk said.And every appeal she makes carries the same deeply personal sign-off:“Forever Damon’s mother.”
