A man declared brain dead after suffering a heart attack has become a surgeon in his home state. His family told the media that Kentucky was in the process of removing his organs to donate them.
The two told National Public Radio and Kentucky news station WKYT on Thursday that the case of Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II remains under investigation by state and federal authorities. Officials at the U.S. organ procurement organization insist there are safeguards in place to prevent such episodes, though his family's experience highlights the need for at least some reform at the shops.
Hoover's sister, Donna Rohrer, described how Hoover was taken to Baptist Health Hospital in Richmond. Kentucky2021 October for drug overdose. Doctors soon told Rohrer and his family members that Hoover had no reflexes or brain function and ultimately decided to take him off life support, as WKYT noted.
Baptist staff reportedly told Rohrer and his family that Hoover had given permission to donate his organs if he died. In honor of his wishes, the hospital reviewed which of his organs could be donated and even held a ceremony in his honor.
According to WKYT, Rohrer said he noticed Hoover's eyes opening and following his loved one's movements. “They told us it was just reflexes, something normal,” he told the outlet.
“Who are we to question the medical system?”
An hour after Hoover was taken into surgery to retrieve his organs, a doctor came out and explained that Hoover “wasn't ready.”
“He's awake,” Rohrer said.
Rohrer remembers taking his brother home and being instructed to make him comfortable, even though he wouldn't live long. As he told WKYT, he has been taking care of Hoover for the past three years.
Rohrer learned the full details of his brother's surgery in January through Baptist and Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA), WKYT reported. That's when one of Goda's former employees contacted her before sending a letter to a congressional committee in September that was conducting an investigation into organ procurement companies, NPR reported.
In response to Rohrer's accounts to WKYT and NPR, Baptist Health said in a statement that patient safety is its “top priority.” “We work closely with our patients and their families to ensure that our patients' wishes regarding organ donation are met,” the hospital statement said.
Koda issued his own statement to NPR, saying Hoover's case was “not accurately represented,” adding that the organization never harvested organs from live patients and that no one was pressured to do so. A statement to WKYT from Network for Hope, an organization Coda joined in May, said groups like them “do not engage in patient care…they do not report death… [and] “Organ donation recovery is authorized to proceed only after death is declared by the patient’s independent healthcare provider.”
However, WKYT and NPR reported that the state attorney general's office and a federal agency that helps oversee organ procurement are investigating Hoover's case.
NPR says Hoover's case has drawn media attention, and some observers fear it could undermine the organ transplant system of more than 100,000 people on the waiting list. Speaking to NPR, the medical ethics professor said there are indications that cases like Hoover's are often “one-offs that we can address and prevent from happening again.”
But Rohrer defended his decision to make Hoover's story public, saying it was worth sharing if it could “give one family the courage to speak out or save another life.”
“He…tried to say, 'Hey, I'm here,' but he was ignored,” Rohrer told WKYT. “They finally suspended the procedure because he showed many signs of life.
“In my heart I knew something was happening, but I compared it to David and Goliath. Who am I to go against the medical system?
