‘Brain-dead’ patient woke up before organ donation

Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II, 36 years old, woke up multiple times before having his organs removed in October 2021 at Baptist Health Hospital, Richmond, Kentucky. The case was reported by the media on October 26, after a hearing of the US Energy and Commerce Committee on the organ transplant coordination system in this country. Natasha Miller, a former organ preservation specialist, at the Kentucky Organ Donation Branch (KODA), accused some doctors of negligence leading to very serious consequences.

Donna Rhorer, Hoover’s sister, was the first to discover this. During the donor’s send-off ceremony, when doctors, medical staff and family members were gathered in the operating room lobby to say goodbye, Hoover suddenly woke up and began looking after family members. Donna immediately felt her brother’s eyes looking straight at her and realized “something was wrong”. However, doctors later said that what Rhorer and his family saw were just normal reflexes of brain-dead patients.

In fact, Hoover woke up a few hours before the organ donation procedure, while undergoing a cardiac catheterization to check whether his heart was healthy enough to donate, according to Miller. “It was a mess. He woke up in pain during that cardiac catheterization, because the catheter had to go through the arteries, it was really painful. The patient was kicking around on the operating table,” Miller said.

However, Hoover was immediately anesthetized again. According to Nyckoletta Martin, another witness said, doctors should have stopped the anesthesia and brought the patient back to the intensive care unit (ICU) at that time, but they did not. Tests were performed at 9 a.m., with a send-off scheduled for the same day at around 4 p.m. This means doctors have about 7 hours to make a better decision.

Previously, on October 25, 2021, Hoover was hospitalized at Baptist Health Richmond’s emergency room due to a drug overdose. He suffered a cardiac arrest for 35 minutes and was declared brain dead by the hospital a day after entering the hospital, according to Martin. Hoover’s family decided to take him off the ventilator and was told he had registered as an organ donor. KODA handled his case as an organ donation after cardiac arrest.

Rhorer did not know what happened to her younger brother until Martin proactively contacted her in January this year. Two doctors present in the operating room when Hoover showed signs of consciousness both refused to continue the surgery. “They both said they definitely wouldn’t do it again, and left,” Martin said.

An on-site coordinator informed KODA of the situation. According to Martin, KODA and the hospital pressured and forced the remaining female doctor to complete the surgery to remove the man’s organs. However, the surgery was not performed afterward. Donna said her brother woke up and was later discharged from the hospital, but could not return to normal. Patients often experience psychological trauma after a failed organ donation.

Martin was also later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He wrote a letter to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation of the US House Energy Commerce Committee reporting on this incident, along with Miller.

After the hearing, he said he was fired from Paragonix, a company that specializes in manufacturing coolers used to transport donated organs. The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office is also reviewing the case. The federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees organ procurement, also said it was investigating allegations related to the incident in Kentucky.

KODA has not yet responded to requests for comment from international media.