Kentucky man wakes up on operating table as doctors begin to harvest his organs after he's declared brain dead

A Kentucky man awoke after being declared brain dead to find that surgeons were preparing to harvest his organs, witnesses have said. The terrified organ donor was declared brain dead and then experienced what could only be called a real nightmare.  

Thomas "TJ" Hoover II, 36, was declared to be brain dead after an overdose when doctors went to remove his organs at the Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Kentucky in October 2021, the NPR reported.

Natasha Miller, an organ preservationist, said of the experience, "He was moving around — kind of thrashing. Like, moving, thrashing around on the bed. And then when we went over there, you could see he had tears coming down. He was crying visibly."

Hoover was taken to the hospital that day after a drug overdose, and was declared to be brain dead, however, his sister, Donna Rhorer, was concerned when she saw that his eyes were moving as the doctors rolled him from the Intensive Care Unit to the Operating Room. 

"It was like it was his way of letting us know, you know, 'Hey, I'm still here,'" Rhorer said of the experience. She as well as other family members were told it was just a reflex and nothing to be concerned about. The doctors only stopped when he began to move around and cry.  

Despite that, Miller said that when a case worker called Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, the supervisor said they were "going to do this case" anyway and added that the hospital needed to "find another doctor."

The operation to get Hoover's organs was ultimately canceled, and several employees quit in the aftermath of the chaos of the events. "That’s everybody’s worst nightmare, right? Being alive during surgery and knowing that someone is going to cut you open and take your body parts out?" said Nyckoletta Martin, a former organ preservationist who quit after the incident. She has submitted a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which highlighted Hoover's case, in hopes to correct issues with organ procurement organizations.  

"It's very scary to me now that these things are allowed to happen, and there's not more in place to protect donors," Martin told reporters. Julie Bergen, the chief operating officer for Network for Hope, has denied that anyone was pressured to procure the organs.  

"No one at KODA has ever been pressured to collect organs from any living patient," Begen said, adding, "KODA does not recover organs from living patients. KODA has never pressured its team members to do so." 

Hoover now has issues with his memory, but is alive. He has also had trouble walking as well as talking since the incident, according to his sister, who now serves as Hoover's legal guardian. "They are trying to play God," Rhorer claimed. "They're almost, you know, picking and choosing - they're going to take this person to save these people."