Terrified organ donor came back to life and thrashed as surgeons prepared to harvest his body parts, witnesses say

A terrified organ donor came back to life, struggling and crying on the operating table as surgeons prepared to harvest his body parts, according to witnesses – one of whom was described as ‘everyone’s worst nightmare’.

Thomas “TJ” Hoover II, 36, was declared brain dead when surgeons began removing his organs at Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Kentucky in October 2021, his sister and former employees of Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates told NPR.

But when doctors went to test the health of his heart for transplant, Hoover was reportedly resuscitated.

“He was thrashing around on the table,” Nyckoletta Martin said, claiming the patient was merely sedated.

As surgeons prepared to remove his organs, Hoover began “moving around” and “was visibly crying,” said Natasha Miller, another former employee.

Hoover had been rushed to the hospital that day after a drug overdose and was declared brain dead.

But his sister, Donna Rhorer, said she became concerned when Hoover appeared to open his eyes and look around as he was wheeled from the intensive care unit to the operating room.

“It was like it was his way of letting us know, ‘Hey, I’m still here,'” she said.

However, she and other family members were told it was just a common reflex.

Only after Hoover started moving and crying did the surgeons decide not to proceed with the transplant.

However, Miller said that when her colleague called KODA — who had coordinated the transplant — the supervisor told them they were “going to do this case anyway” and that the hospital should “find another doctor.”

“It was very chaotic,” she said. “Everyone was just very upset.”

Ultimately, the organ collection was canceled and several employees quit in the aftermath.

“That’s everyone’s worst nightmare, right? To be alive during the operation and know that someone is going to cut you open and take out your body parts?’ said Martin.

“That’s horrible.”

She added that several employees who worked on the transplant had to seek therapy in the aftermath.

“It’s taken a toll on a lot of people,” Martin said, “especially me.”

She has since become a whistleblower and submitted a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the incident while it was holding a hearing on organ procurement organizations.

“I think it’s very frightening now that these things are allowed to happen and there’s nothing left to protect donors,” Martin said.

But Julie Bergen, the president and chief operating officer of Network for Hope — which was formed through a merger between KODA and LifeCenter Organ Donation Network — has denied the incident.

“No one at KODA has ever been pressured to take organs from a living patient,” she told NPR.

‘KODA does not recover organs from living patients. KODA has never forced its team members to do this.’

Baptist Health Richmond has also since emphasized that “the safety of our patients is always our top priority.

“We work closely with our patients and their families to ensure that our patients’ organ donation wishes are met,” a hospital spokesperson told NPR.

Other organ donor advocates have argued that such mistakes are rare as they condemned Martin and other whistleblowers for discouraging the operations.

“For more than five years, our nation’s organ procurement organizations (OPOs) – the nonprofit, community-based organizations that work with grieving families every day to save lives through transplantation – have been subjected to malicious misinformation and slanderous attacks based on hearsay , creating a false narrative that donation and transplantation in the US is unreliable and broken,” the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations wrote in a open letter on October 3.

‘Ignored is the fact that there has been consistent growth in organ donation by OPOs for thirteen years, which last year led to a record number of 43,000 organs transplanted and lives saved through deceased donation.’

Dr. Robert Truog, professor of medical ethics, anesthesia and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, also said incidents like what Hoover experienced are “horrific” and “need to be monitored carefully.”

“But I really wouldn’t want the public to believe this is a serious problem,” he said. “I believe these are truly one-off events that hopefully we can get to the bottom of and prevent this from ever happening again.”

The Kentucky Attorney General and the U.S. Health Services Resources Administration are now investigating the terrifying incident.

Meanwhile, Rhorer says her brother has since had problems with his memory, walking and talking, and she has had to become his legal guardian.

“I’m really angry,” she said.

‘I feel betrayed by the fact that people told us he was brain dead, and then he wakes up.

“They’re trying to play God,” she claimed. “They’re almost, you know, picking and choosing – they’re going to take this person to save these people.

“And you lose a little bit of faith in humanity.”