Kentucky man declared brain dead wakes up during organ harvesting

A man who had gone into cardiac arrest and been declared brain dead woke up as surgeons in his home state of Kentucky were in the middle of harvesting his organs for donation, his family has told media outlets.

As reported Thursday by both National Public Radio and the Kentucky news station WKYT, the case of Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials. Officials within the US’s organ-procurement system insist there are safeguards in place to prevent such episodes, though his family told the outlets their experience highlights a need for at least some reform.

Hoover’s sister, Donna Rhorer, recounted how Hoover was taken to Baptist health hospital in Richmond, Kentucky, in October 2021 because of a drug overdose. Doctors soon told Rhorer and her relatives that Hoover lacked any reflexes or brain activity, and they ultimately decided to remove him from life support, as WKYT noted.

The staff at Baptist then reportedly told Rhorer and her family that Hoover had given permission for his organs to be donated in the event of his death. To honor his wishes, the hospital tested which of his organs would be viable for donation, and the facility even had a ceremony honoring him.

Rhorer said she noticed Hoover’s eyes open up and seemingly track his loved one’s movements, according to WKYT. “We were told it was just reflexes – just a normal thing,” she said to the outlet.

“Who are we to question the medical system?”

About an hour after Hoover had been brought into surgery for his organs to be retrieved, a doctor came out and explained that Hoover “wasn’t ready”.

“He woke up,” Rhorer said.

Rhorer recalled getting instructions to bring her brother home and make him comfortable, though he likely would not live much longer. As she said to WKYT, she has been caring for Hoover for the past three years while he grapples with trouble walking, remembering and talking.

WKYT reported that Rhorer only learned the full details of her brother’s surgery at the hands of Baptist and the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (Koda) in January. That’s when a former employee of Koda contacted her before sending a letter to a congressional committee that in September held a hearing scrutinizing organ-procurement organizations, NPR reported.

The letter’s author said she saw Hoover begin “thrashing” around on the operating table as well as start “crying visibly”, according to NPR.

In response to the accounts relayed by Rhorer to WKYT and NPR, Baptist health said in a statement that patient safety was its “highest priority”. “We work closely with our patients and their families to ensure our patients’ wishes for organ donation are followed,” the hospital’s statement said.

Koda issued its own statement to NPR maintaining that Hoover’s case “has not been accurately represented”, that the organization has never collected organs from live patients and that no one there has ever been pressured to do so. A statement to WKYT from the Network for Hope organization, which Koda joined in May, said groups like theirs are “not involved in patient care … do not declare death … [and] only have the authority to proceed with organ donation recovery after a patient’s independent healthcare provider has declared death”.

Nonetheless, WKYT and NPR reported that the state’s attorney general’s office as well as a federal agency that helps oversee organ procurement are investigating Hoover’s case.

NPR made it a point to say that some observers worry that the media attention Hoover’s case has drawn could undermine an organ-transplant system with a waiting list of more than 100,000 people. A professor of medical ethics with whom NPR spoke said all indications are that cases like Hoover’s are generally “one-offs that hopefully we’ll be able to get to the bottom of and prevent from ever happening again”.

But Rhorer defended her decision to go public with Hoover’s story, saying it would be worth sharing if it could “give one other family the courage to speak up or if it could save one other life”.

“He made … attempts to say: ‘Hey, I’m here,’ but it was kind of ignored,” Rhorer said to WKYT. “They finally stopped the procedure because he was showing too many signs of life.

“In my heart of hearts, I knew something went on, but I compared it to David and Goliath. Who am I to go up against the medical system?”