Imagine you suddenly wake up on the operating table to learn that doctors declared you brain dead and were about to harvest your organs. That's the horrifying reality for one Kentucky man. He ended up waking up on the operating table.
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Thomas T.J. Hoover ended up at Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Kentucky in October 2021. He had overdosed on drugs, and medical staff declared him braindead at the time. According to NPR, staff then conducted tests to see if they could harvest his organs.
However, according to one member of staff, Natasha Miller, he seemed very much alive. She said that he was moving a lot when the nurses brought him to her. "He was moving around — kind of thrashing," Miller told NPR. "And then when we went over there, you could see he had tears coming down. He was crying visibly."
The condition of the Kentucky man shocked several members of the operating room staff. In fact, two doctors refused to perform the operation procedure, not believing the man was brain dead. However, the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates then requested new doctors.
"So the coordinator calls the supervisor at the time. And she was saying that he was telling her that she needed to 'find another doctor to do it' — that 'we were going to do this case. She needs to find someone else,'" Miller told the outlet.
Kentucky Man Almost Dies
Meanwhile, another KODA worker Nyckoletta Martin made a shocking discovery. She learned that doctors saw signs of life while examining whether his heart was viable or not. The doctors then ended up sedating him.
"The donor had woken up during his procedure that morning for a cardiac catheterization. And he was thrashing around on the table," Martin said.
Following the incident, several members resigned. "I've dedicated my entire life to organ donation and transplant," Martin told NPR. "It's very scary to me now that these things are allowed to happen and there's not more in place to protect donors."
Meanwhile, the Kentucky man's sister said he had opened his eyes while being wheeled to the operating room. But the medical staff told her that was a reflex. "It was like it was his way of letting us know, you know, 'Hey, I'm still here,'" Donna Rhorer, Hoover's older sister, told NPR.
KODA denied instructing doctors to proceed with the organ harvesting operation. Hoover survived and has made a recovery.
