An American man who had gone into cardiac arrest and been declared brain dead woke up as surgeons were midway through harvesting his organs for donation, reports The Guardian.
According to Kentucky news station WKYT, the case of Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials.
Authorities within the US’ organ-procurement system insist there are safeguards to prevent such episodes, but his family said the experience highlighted a need for at least some reform.
Hoover’s sister, Donna Rhorer, said her brother was taken to Baptist Health Hospital in October 2021 because of a drug overdose.
Doctors eventually told the family that he lacked any reflexes or brain activity, and they ultimately decided to remove him from life support.
The staff then reportedly told them that Hoover had given permission for his organs to be donated in the event of his death. To honour his wishes, the hospital tested which of his organs would be viable for donation, and the facility even had a ceremony honouring him.
But when Rhorer told hospital staff she had noticed her brother’s eyes open up and seemingly track his family’s movements, “They said it was just reflexes – just a normal thing.
“Who are we to question the medical system?”
About an hour after Hoover had been taken to surgery for his organs to be retrieved, a doctor emerged and said Hoover “wasn’t ready”.
“He woke up,” Rhorer said.
She said they were told to take her brother home and make him comfortable, though he would “probably not live much longer”.
For the past three years, since his release from the hospital, his sister, with whom he is now living and who is his caregiver, said he has had problems remembering, walking and talking.
She said it was only in January this year that she had learned the full details of her brother’s surgery at the hands of the hospital and the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (Koda) in January. That’s when a former Koda employee contacted her before sending a letter to a congressional committee that in September held a hearing scrutinising organ-procurement organisations.
The letter’s author said she saw Hoover start “thrashing” around on the operating table as well as start “crying visibly”.
In response, the hospital said in a statement that patient safety was its “highest priority”.
Koda issued its own statement maintaining that Hoover’s case “has not been accurately represented”, that the organisation has never collected organs from live patients, and that no one there has ever been pressured to do so.
A statement from the Network for Hope organisation, 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, the state’s Attorney-General’s office as well as a federal agency that helps oversee organ procurement are investigating Hoover’s case.
While some observers worry the media attention might undermine an organ-transplant system with a waiting list of more than 100 000 people, Rhorer has defended her decision to go public, saying the story is worth sharing if it could “give one other family the courage to speak up or if it could save another life”.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Experts differ on when to declare a patient dead
Consensus review: Determination of brain death/death by neurologic criteria
Severe traumatic brain injury: Don’t be too hasty in pulling the plug