A Kentucky man shocked doctors after being pronounced dead from an overdose. Anthony Thomas Hoover II, nicknamed TJ, reportedly began showing signs of life in the middle of surgery, per NPR. Surgeons had planned to remove all his organs for medical donations.
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Family Noticed TJ Was Alive Before Surgery
According to NPR, the medical incident reportedly happened in October 2021 at the Baptist Health Richmond Hospital. Now, his sister, Donna Rhorer, is sharing what the experience was like.
Donna had informed the hospital that he was registered to donate his organs. However, while medical staff wheeled him to the surgery, Donna and other family members present insisted TJ had opened his eyes. While Donna believed it was TJ’s way of saying, “I’m still here,” the medical staff assured her it was a common reflex of the recently deceased.
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Doctors Canceled Removal Of Man’s Organs After THIS Happened
After Anthony Thomas Hoover II’s body arrived in the surgery room, Natasha Miller noticed some concerning movement from the patient. At the time, her job was to preserve the removed organs for donation. Miller said he was “Like moving, thrashing around on the table.”
After witnessing the movement, Miller said two surgeons in the room didn’t feel confident with proceeding. “It was very chaotic. Everyone was just very upset,” Miller added.
Nonprofit Allegedly Asked For Another Doctor To Retrieve The Organs
After the procural surgeon backed out, the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA) allegedly requested that the hospital “find another doctor” to retrieve TJ’s organs. Natasha recounted the conversation she overheard a conversation by a KODA hospital case coordinator.
“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 recalled. “And she’s like, ‘There is no one else.’ She’s crying — the coordinator — because she’s getting yelled at.”
Not only that, Miller claims that after the Kentucky man showed signs of life, he was sedated. Ultimately, though, the procedure was canceled. Donna said what saved her brother was him “showing too many signs of life.”
Before taking her brother home, Donna Rhorer alleges medical professionals told her to keep him comfortable because he wouldn’t live long. However, three years later, she’s still caring for TJ amid difficulties with walking, talking, and his memory, per PEOPLE.
Meanwhile, KODA has since denied the allegations of pressuring employees to retrieve organs despite signs of life. While they confirmed that Natasha was assigned to that organ retrieval case, the nonprofit told NPR what happened is not being “accurately represented.”
“No one at KODA has ever been pressured to collect organs from any living patient,” KODA rep Julie Bergin said in a statement to NPR. “KODA does not recover organs from living patients. KODA has never pressured its team members to do so.”
According to the Health Resources & Services Administration, a government initiative, there are 103,223 men, women, and children on the transplant list, and another person is added every eight minutes. Furthermore, 17 people reportedly die every day awaiting a transplant. In 2023, more than 46,000 transplants were performed across the country.
TJ’s sister admitted to NPR that she feels angry about what happened to her now 36-year-old brother.
“I feel betrayed by the fact that the people that were telling us he was brain dead and then he wakes up,” Donna Rhorer says. “They are trying to play God. They’re almost, you know, picking and choosing — they’re going to take this person to save these people. And you kind of lose your faith in humanity a little bit.”
