An organ donation was planned for a guy from Kentucky who was deemed brain dead. However, he awoke during the process. Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II, Donna Rhorer’s brother, was brought to Baptist Health Richmond’s emergency department on October 25, 2021.
“All I had was my gut instinct for three years that something wasn’t what we were told,” Rhorer stated.
Hoover was considered code blue because he was going into cardiac arrest.
“October 26, we were told there were no reflexes. He had no reflexes. There was no brain activity, no brain waves,” Rhorer stated.
Rhorer’s family made the decision to take Hoover off life support the next day. They were informed that he was a registered organ donor at that point.
In accordance with his desires, Hoover’s organs were tested over the course of the following two days, including his heart through a cardiac catheterization.
“We had his honor walk Friday afternoon. During his honor walk, his eyes started opening up. He was tracking. His eyes were tracking us around. We were told it was just reflexes, just a normal thing. Who are we to question the medical system?” Rhorer stated.
After that, Hoover underwent surgery to remove his organs.
“About an hour into it, the doctor came out and got us. He said he wasn’t ready. He woke up. But we also hadn’t been told during his heart catheterization that morning, he woke up then. If we had known that, then clearly we would have known he wasn’t brain dead,” Rhorer stated.
To take Hoover home and make him comfortable, Rhorer was instructed. He wouldn’t survive long, they warned her. For the past three years, Rhorer has been taking care of her brother.
“He made several attempts to say, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ But it was kind of ignored. They finally stopped the procedure because he was showing too many signs of life,” Rhorer stated.
It wasn’t until January of this year that Rhorer was made aware of these facts by Nyckoletta Martin, who at the time was employed by Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates. This year, she and other witnesses came forward, and in September, the House Energy and Commerce Committee heard their testimony.
“It’s not infrequent that something comes up around the donor and whether or not the donor is dead. The problem is we’ve had 40 years where there has been no oversight at all of OPOs. (Organ Procurement Organizations),” Dr. Seth Karp, the Surgeon-in-Chief at Vanderbilt University Medical Center stated.
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According to the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, they are now investigating this matter. Rhorer declared that she would never stop sharing Hoover’s story if it might inspire one other family to speak up or if it could save one more life.
Network for Hope issued a statement stating, in part, that “An Organ Procurement Organization is not involved in patient care, and we do not declare death,” even though they stated they were unable to share particular case information. Only once a patient’s independent healthcare provider has pronounced them dead can OPOs move forward with organ donation recovery.
