Chilling video shows a man who had been declared brain dead being taken into surgery before waking up as his body was being prepared for organ donation.
Thomas ‘TJ’ Hoover II, 36, had been declared brain dead after an overdose when surgeons went to remove his organs at Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Kentucky in October 2021.
Hoover’s sister, Donna Rhorer, said fox56 The family was told he had “no reflexes, no responses, no brain waves, no brain activity” before they decided to take him off life support.
Hospital staff even held an honor walk for Hoover, a tradition in which nurses and other employees line up to show respect for organ donors.
Heartbreaking images show Hoover being taken into surgery in a hospital bed as his heartbroken relatives say goodbye.
Chilling video shows Thomas ‘TJ’ Hoover II, 36, who had been declared brain dead, being taken into surgery, where he woke up as his body was being prepared for organ donation.
Heartbreaking images show Hoover being taken into surgery in a hospital bed as his heartbroken relatives say goodbye.
Thomas ‘TJ’ Hoover II, 36, had been declared brain dead when surgeons went to remove his organs at Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Kentucky in October 2021, but he was later resuscitated.
“We had his honor walk, but almost as soon as it started, his eyes started to open, and not just open, he was looking around, looking at what was going on,” Rhorer said.
“And they told us it was just reflexes, just normal instinct, and he’s not there.”
But once on the operating table, Hoover began writhing, crying and trying to pull out his teeth as surgeons prepared to remove parts of his body, according to Nyckoletta Martin, a former employee of Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates.
Then, as surgeons prepared to remove his organs, Hoover began “moving around” and “was visibly crying,” according to Natasha Miller, another former employee.
Miller said that when his colleague called KODA, which had arranged the transplant, the supervisor told them they were “going to do this case” anyway and that the hospital needed to “find another doctor.”
He was rushed to the hospital after a drug overdose.
The hospital insists that ‘the safety of our patients is always our top priority’
In the end, the organ harvesting was canceled and several employees subsequently resigned.
Rhorer says her brother has had problems with memory, walking and talking ever since, and she had to become his legal guardian.
“I feel angry,” she said.
‘I feel betrayed by the fact that people told us he was brain dead and then he woke up.
“They’re trying to play God,” he said. “They’re almost, you know, picking and choosing: They’re going to take this person to save these people.”
“And you lose a little faith in humanity.”
Greg Gerard, president of Baptist Health. Since then, Baptist Health Richmond has also insisted that “the safety of our patients is always our top priority.”
Nyckoletta Martin has since become a whistleblower and sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the incident while it was holding a hearing to investigate organ procurement organizations.
Martin, a former hospital employee, added that several of the employees who worked on the transplant had to seek therapy afterward.
“It took a toll on a lot of people,” Martin said, “especially me.”
She has since become a whistleblower and sent a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the incident while it was holding a hearing investigating organ procurement organizations.
Donna Rhorer, his sister, has become his legal guardian.
Rhorer says her brother has had problems with memory, walking and talking ever since, and she had to become his legal guardian.
“It scares me very much now that these things are allowed to happen and there are no more measures to protect donors,” Martin said.
But Julie Bergen, president and chief operating officer of Network for Hope, which was formed from a merger between KODA and LifeCenter Organ Donation Network, has denied the incident.
“No one at KODA has ever been pressured to harvest organs from any living patient,” he told NPR.
‘KODA does not recover organs from living patients. KODA has never pressured its team members to do so.”
Since then, Baptist Health Richmond has also insisted 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’ wishes regarding organ donation are met,” a hospital spokesperson told NPR.
The Kentucky Attorney General and the U.S. Health Services Resources Administration are now investigating the terrifying incident.