Case of Anthony Thomas ‘TJ’ Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials
A man who had gone into cardiac arrest and been declared brain dead woke up as surgeons in his home state of Kentucky were in the middle of harvesting his organs for donation, his family has told media outlets.
As reported Thursday by both National Public Radio and the Kentucky news station WKYT, the case of Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials. Officials within the US’s organ-procurement system insist there are safeguards in place to prevent such episodes, though his family told the outlets their experience highlights a need for at least some reform.
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WKYT reported that Rhorer only learned the full details of her brother’s surgery at the hands of Baptist and the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (Koda) in January. That’s when a former employee of Koda contacted her before sending a letter to a congressional committee that in September held a hearing scrutinizing organ-procurement organizations, NPR reported.
The letter’s author said she saw Hoover begin “thrashing” around on the operating table as well as start “crying visibly”, according to NPR.
She was caring for him for three years.
You cannot be brain dead for three years. Brain death is legal death. Once you are declared brain dead, you are officially a cadaver and won’t be going home. You are going to the morgue that day, with possibly a brief initial stop in the operating room if you’re an organ donor.
That’s not correct. When a person is declared dead but is maintained for organ harvesting, a tech is brought in to keep the body stable to best preserve all organs being taken. Think ICU, but focused on saving the organs with not much concern for the brain. Breathing, BP, and heart rate are optimized for organ survival until a surgical team can be set up for harvesting. A colleague did it for a while, and said it was depressing and a lot of sitting around watching the monitor and tweaking drips until they could arrange surgery. When my brother died, we donated what we could, but a lot of his organs were non-viable due to his illness… still, every little bit helps.
I’d like to lighten up the mood by commenting the guy is lucky this happened in Kentucky… everyone knows the standard for being brain dead is much lower there. :)
That’s not the case (at least in Germany). Being brain dead does not replace the conscious decision on when to disable life support.