A man who went into cardiac arrest and was declared brain dead woke up in his home state of Kentucky while surgeons were harvesting his organs for donation, his family told media.
As National Public Radio and Kentucky news station WKYT reported Thursday, the case of Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal authorities. Officials with the U.S. organ procurement system insist there are safeguards in place to prevent such incidents, but his family says their experience at least shows the need for some reform. He told the media that it was a relief.
Hoover’s sister, Donna Lawler, told how Hoover was taken to Baptist Health Hospital in Richmond, Kentucky, in October 2021 due to a drug overdose. As WKYT noted, doctors quickly told Lawler and his relatives that Huber lacked reflexes and brain activity, and ultimately decided to remove Huber from life support. .
Baptist Hospital staff then reportedly told Lawler and her family that Huber had given them permission to donate his organs in the event of his death. To honor his wishes, the hospital tested which of his organs were suitable for donation, and the facility even held a ceremony in his honor.
Lawler said she noticed Hoover’s eyes were open and seemed to be tracking her loved one’s movements, according to WKYT. “We were told it was just a reflex and quite normal,” she told the media.
“Who are we to question the health care system?”
About an hour after Hoover was taken to the operating room to retrieve his organs, a doctor came out and explained that Hoover was “not ready.”
“He woke up,” Lawler said.
Lawler recalled being instructed to bring his brother home and make him comfortable, although he probably wouldn’t live long. As she told WKYT, she has been caring for Hoover for the past three years.
Lawler first learned the details of her brother’s surgery at the hands of Baptist and Kentucky Organ Donation (Koda) in January, WKYT reported. NPR reported that Koda’s former employees contacted her before sending the letter to a Congressional committee that held hearings in September to scrutinize organ procurement organizations.
According to NPR, the letter’s author said he witnessed Ms. Huber begin to “writhe around” on the operating table and “start visibly crying.”
In response to Lawler’s report to WKYT and NPR, Baptist Health said in a statement that patient safety is its “top priority.” “We work closely with patients and their families to ensure that their wishes for organ donation are honored,” the hospital said in a statement.
Koda issued his own statement to NPR, saying Hoover’s case is “not accurately represented” and that the organization has never harvested organs from living patients and that no one at the organization would do so. He claimed that he was never pressured to do so. Network for Hope, an organization that Koda joined in May, said in a statement to WKYT that groups like theirs “are not involved in patient care, do not declare deaths, (and) “We only have the authority to proceed with the recovery of organs through donation after the death of a deceased person,” he said. An independent medical provider declared death. ”
Nevertheless, WKYT and NPR reported that the state attorney general’s office and the federal agency that helps oversee organ procurement are investigating Hoover’s case.
NPR highlights that some observers are concerned that the media attention Hoover’s case has received could weaken the organ transplant system, which has more than 100,000 people on the waiting list. did. A medical ethics professor NPR spoke to said that cases like Huber’s disease are generally “one-time events, and hopefully we can get to the bottom of it and prevent it from happening again.” That said, all the signs are.
But Lawlor defended her decision to go public with Hoover’s story, saying it could “give another family the courage to speak out or save one other life.” Said it was worth it.
“He… tried to say, ‘Hey, I’m here,’ but it seemed like he was ignored,” Lawler told WKYT. “They ended up canceling the surgery because he was showing too many signs of life.
“In my heart, I knew something was going on, but I compared it to David and Goliath. Who am I to stand up to the health care system?”
