A man declared brain dead wakes up during organ donor surgery

RICHMOND, Ky. (WKYT/Gray News) – A Kentucky man was declared brain dead and his organs would be donated. But then he woke up during the procedure.

On October 25, 2021, Donna Rhorer’s brother, Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II, was admitted to the emergency room at Baptist Health Richmond.

“All I had for three years was my instinct that something was not what we were told,” Rhorer said.

Hoover went into cardiac arrest and was considered code blue.

“On October 26 we were told that there were no reflexes. He had no reflexes. There was no brain activity, no brain waves,” Rhorer said.

The next day, Rhorer’s family decided to take Hoover off life support. Then they were told he was a registered organ donor.

To honor his wishes, the next two days were spent testing Hoover’s organs to see what was viable, including a cardiac catheterization to test his heart.

“We had his honor walk on Friday afternoon. During his walk of honor, his eyes began to open. He was following. His eyes followed us everywhere. We were told it was just reflexes, something normal. Who are we to question the medical system?” Rhorer said.

Hoover was then subjected to organ removal surgery.

“About an hour later the doctor came out and picked us up. He said he wasn’t ready. He woke up. But we weren’t told that during his cardiac catheterization that morning either, then he woke up. If we had known that, we would have clearly known he was not brain dead,” Rhorer said.

Rhorer was told to take Hoover home and make him comfortable. She was told he would not live long. Rhorer has been caring for her brother for three years now.

“He made several attempts to say, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ But it was kind of ignored. They ultimately stopped the procedure because he was showing too many signs of life,” Rhorer said.

Rhorer didn’t learn these details until January of this year, when Nyckoletta Martin, who worked at Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates at the time, contacted her. She and other witnesses came forward this year and their testimony was heard before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in September.

“It is not uncommon for something to happen around the donor and whether or not the donor is dead. The problem is that we have had no supervision of the OPOs for forty years. (Organ Procurement Organizations),” says Dr. Seth Karp, chief surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The Kentucky Attorney General’s office said they are now investigating the matter.

Baptist Health Richmond said in a statement: “We work closely with our patients and their families to ensure our patients’ organ donation wishes are met.”

And Rhorer said if this can give another family the courage to speak up, or if it can save another life, she will never stop telling Hoover’s story.

“In my heart I knew something was going on, but I compared it to David and Goliath. Who am I to go against the medical system?” Rhorer said.

While they said they could not discuss specific details of the case, Network for Hope did release a statement, saying in part: “An organ procurement organization is not involved in patient care, and we do not report deaths. OPOs only have the authority to initiate recovery of organ donations after a patient’s independent health care provider has declared death.”

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