Transplant donor wakes up on operating table as doctors prepare to remove his heart

A nightmare scenario played out when a transplant donor woke up during surgery, just as doctors were preparing to remove his heart.

A nightmare scenario played out at a Kentucky hospital as a transplant donor woke up on the operating table just as doctors were preparing to remove his heart, according to witnesses.

Per The New York Post, Thomas TJ Hoover was taken to Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in October 2021 after overdosing on drugs.

Doctors declared him brain dead and proceeded to conduct tests to see whether his organs were worth harvesting for donation, NPR reported.

Natasha Miller was one of the people tasked with preserving organs at Baptist Health Richmond Hospital that day. She told NPR that when nurses wheeled Mr Hoover, 36, into the room, she thought he seemed still very much alive.

TJ Hoover with his sister Donna Rhorer, after Mr Hoover survived a drug overdose. Picture: Hoover Rhorer Family

“He was moving around – kind of thrashing,” Ms Miller told NPR.

“And then when we went over there, you could see he had tears coming down. He was crying visibly.”

His condition shocked several people in the operating room and caused two doctors tasked with the procedures to refuse to participate.

Ms Miller said she overheard a request for new doctors to perform the procedure.

“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,’” Ms Miller recalled.

Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA) officials have vehemently denied that any member of their organisation instructed doctors to proceed with an organ harvesting operation on a living patient.

Another KODA worker claimed that while reviewing Mr Hoover’s case, she made a jarring discovery. Nyckoletta Martin said she was shocked to find out that the donor had previously shown signs of life as doctors examined his heart to see if it was viable for transplantation.

“The donor had woken up during his procedure that morning for a cardiac catheterisation. And he was thrashing around on the table,” Ms Martin said.

Ms Rhorer is now Mr Hoover's legal guardian. Picture: Hoover Rhorer Family

According to case file records, the doctors merely sedated the struggling Mr Hoover when he arose – and proceeded with their plans to harvest his organs.

The incident caused several members of the KODA team to resign.

“I’ve dedicated my entire life to organ donation and transplant,” Ms Martin told NPR.

“It’s very scary to me now that these things are allowed to happen and there’s not more in place to protect donors.”

Mr Hoover’s sister said the overdose victim opened his eyes while being wheeled from an intensive care unit and into an operating room – but she was told that the movement was reflexive and didn’t mean her brother was still alive.

“It was like it was his way of letting us know, you know, ‘Hey, I’m still here’,” Donna Rhorer, Mr Hoover’s older sister and current legal guardian, told NPR.

Kentucky’s state Attorney-General said investigators were reviewing the matter.

The federal Health Resources and Services Administration is also investigating the allegations.

Mr Hoover survived and is currently living with his sister. Though he still has some issues with his memory, walking and talking, he has made a significant recovery.

This article originally appeared on The New York Post and was reproduced with permission