A petrified organ donor came back to life, “thrashing around” and “crying visibly” on the operating room table of a Kentucky hospital as surgeons prepared to harvest his body parts.
Thomas “T.J.” Hoover was declared brain-dead after he was taken to Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Richmond, Ky., in October 2021 following a drug overdose.
But as doctors went to test his heart health for transplantation, Hoover reportedly appeared very much alive, according to the patient’s sister and former Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA) employees in the room.
“He was moving around … thrashing around on the bed,” Natasha Miller told NPR.
“And then when we went over there, you could see he had tears coming down. He was crying visibly.”
Hoover’s sister, Donna Rhorer, said she became concerned when Hoover seemed to open his eyes and look around as he was being wheeled from the intensive care unit to the operating room.
“It was like it was his way of letting us know, you know, ‘Hey, I’m still here,’” she told the outlet, however, she and other family members were told it was just a common reflex.
The whole scene was “very chaotic,” Miller said, as two surgeons refused to move forward with the surgery.
“Everyone was just very upset.”
But things became more disturbing when Miller relayed what happened to a supervisor at KODA, which coordinated the transplant, who then told her that they were still “going to do this case” and the hospital needed to “find another doctor to do it.”
Another KODA worker, Nyckoletta Martin, said that while reviewing Hoover’s case, she discovered that the donor had previously showed signs of life as doctors examined his heart to see if it was viable for transplantation.
“The donor had woken up during his procedure that morning for a cardiac catheterization. And he was thrashing around on the table,” Martin told NPR.
According to case file records, the Hippocratic oath takers sedated the struggling Hoover when he awoke — and proceeded with their transplant plans.
The organ retrieval was ultimately cancelled, resulting in several employees, including Martin, to quit in the aftermath.
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“I’ve dedicated my entire life to organ donation and transplant,” Martin said.
“It’s very scary to me now that these things are allowed to happen and there’s not more in place to protect donors.”
KODA officials have denied that any of their employees instructed doctors to “collect organs from any living patient.”
It added in a statement: “KODA does not recover organs from living patients. KODA has never pressured its team members to do so.’
Kentucky’s state attorney general and the federal Health Resources and Services Administration are both investigating the allegations.
Hoover survived and lives with his sister, according to the outlet.
He recovered but still has some issues with his memory, walking and talking.
“That’s everybody’s worst nightmare, right? Being alive during surgery and knowing that someone is going to cut you open and take your body parts out?” Martin said.
“That’s horrifying.”