Man declared brain dead wakes up as doctors are harvesting his organs for donation
A man who had been declared brain dead after going into cardiac arrest woke up as doctors were harvesting his organs for donation.
Media outlets like The Guardian, Kentucky's WKYT and Washington's National Public Radio (NPR) reported that the case of Anthony Thomas "TJ" Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials.
Hoover's sister Donna Rhorer recalled him being taken to Baptist health hospital in the city of Richmond in October 2021 due to a drug overdose.
Doctors told Rhorer he lacked reflexes or any brain activity, and they ultimately decided to remove him from life support. A hospital staff then reportedly told Rhorer and her family that Hoover had consented to donate his organs if he died. The hospital tested which of his organs could be donated, even as it held a ceremony honoring him.
But Hoover's eyes opened up and appeared to track his loved one's movements.
“We were told it was just reflexes, just a normal thing,” Rhorer is quoted as saying. "Who are we to question the medical system?”
About an hour later, a doctor came out of the operating room and told Hoover's family that he "wasn't ready."
Rhorer said she was instructed to bring Hoover home and make him comfortable, though he's expected not to live much longer.
She has been caring for his brother for the past three years, as he is struggling to walk, talk, and remember things.
Rhorer only learned the full details of Hoover's surgery last January when a former employee of Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA) contacted her.
The employee said she saw Hoover begin “thrashing” around on the operating table as well as start “crying visibly" during operation.
The employee also wrote a letter to a congressional committee which then held a hearing last September, probing into organ-procurement organizations.
In a statement, Baptist said patient safety was its "highest priority," working closely with its patients and their families "to ensure our patients’ wishes for organ donation are followed."
KODA, for its part, said Hoover's case "has not been accurately represented," arguing that it has never collected organs from live patients and that no one there has ever been pressured to do so.
Network for Hope, an organization that KODA joined in May, said their groups “not involved in patient care … do not declare death … [and] only have the authority to proceed with organ donation recovery after a patient’s independent healthcare provider has declared death."
Observers warned that Hoover's case may undermine the organ transplant system, which has over 100,000 people in the waiting list.
Dr. Robert Trulog, a medical ethics professor, told NPR, that though such "horrifying stories" need to be "followed up carefully," it should not make the public think it's a "serious problem."
"I believe that these are really one-offs," Trulog said, "that hopefully we’ll be able to get to the bottom of and prevent from ever happening again."
Still, Rhorer thinks it's important her brother's story is getting public attention, noting it could “give one other family the courage to speak up or if it could save one other life."
“They finally stopped the procedure because he was showing too many signs of life," Rhorer told WKYT. “In my heart of hearts, I knew something went on, but I compared it to David and Goliath. Who am I to go up against the medical system?”