US Organ Donor Wakes Up Moments Before Doctors Begin Heart Removal

An organ donor regained consciousness on the operating table just before doctors were about to remove his heart at a US hospital last week, reports New York Post. Thomas T.J. Hoover was admitted at Kentucky’s Baptist Health Richmond Hospital after he went into cardiac arrest following a drug overdose. The doctors declared him brain dead, and they ran a few more tests to determine how viable his organs would be for donation. When Mr. Hoover was wheeled into the OR, however, members of the operating room staff noticed he was still showing signs of life.

“He was moving around-kind of thrashing. And then when we went over there, you could see he had tears coming down. He was crying visibly,” said Natasha Miller, an organ preservation staff member, as reported by the Post.

It was many people in the operating theatre who were shocked by the critical state of the donor. In fact, two doctors who were going to perform the procedure refused to do it. The situation worsened when, according to a statement from the KODA case coordinator, the latter requested new doctors to execute the organ retrieval.

“So the coordinator calls the supervisor at the time. And she was saying that he was telling her that she needed to ‘find another doctor to do it’—that ‘we were going to do this case. She needs to find someone else,'”‘ Miller added.

Further investigation revealed that Hoover had woken up at another point during his cardiac catheterization earlier that day. KODA employee Nyckoletta Martin exclaimed in amazement at this revelation, “The donor had woken up during his procedure that morning for a cardiac catheterization. And he was thrashing around on the table.”

According to court documents, however, instead of waiting, doctors put Hoover into a coma and carried out their original plan. “It was like it was his way of letting us know, you know, ‘Hey I’m still here,'” Mr. Hoover’s sister, Donna Rhorer said.

The operation was eventually canceled. The incident made some members of the KODA team resign; however, officials denied that any member of the organization directed the doctors to harvest organs from a living person. The state attorney general of Kentucky mentioned that an investigation is underway into the entire issue and that review by the Health Resources and Services Administration is also in process.

He has regained his strength since then, but he still can’t manage with his memory, walking, and speech properly. Mr. Hoover lives with his sister.