{"id":24978,"date":"2024-10-24T09:15:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T13:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=24978"},"modified":"2024-10-24T09:15:55","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T13:15:55","slug":"brain-dead-kentucky-man-wakes-up-just-as-his-organs-were-about-to-be-harvested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/brain-dead-kentucky-man-wakes-up-just-as-his-organs-were-about-to-be-harvested","title":{"rendered":"Brain Dead Kentucky Man Wakes Up Just as His Organs Were About to Be Harvested"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Ladonna Horer \/ TikTok<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Kentucky Attorney-General’s office is reviewing a case after a man was declared brain dead at a Kentucky hospital, only to wake up moments before doctors began harvesting his organs. About three years ago, Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II was admitted to the emergency room at Baptist Health Richmond in Richmond, KY for cardiac arrest. After his family was told he showed no signs of brain activity, they decided to take him off life support and donate his heart. Yet after that decision, there were signs that not all was as it seemed. The family later learned that during a cardiac catheterization procedure, there were signs of brain activity. Hoover\u2019s sister also said that during an \u201chonor walk\u201d when a patient is walked down to begin the organ harvesting process, Hoover\u2019s eyelids looked like they were opening. \u201cHis eyes were tracking; looking around,” his sister, Donna Rhorer said<\/a>. \u201cWe were told by the ICU supervisor that it was just reflexes; it was just a normal thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet an hour within preparations for organ harvesting, Hoover woke up. \u201cProbably about an hour into [the surgery], they come out and got us and the doctor \u2026 told us that he wasn’t ready — that he had woke up,\u201d Rhorer said. Despite being told that he didn\u2019t have long to live, Rhorer took Hoover home to care for him. He remains alive today, though he has trouble with his memory, walking, and talking. In January of this year, Rhorer was contacted by a former employee of Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliate (KODA), who also sent a letter to a congressional committee criticizing organ procurement operations. She stated that she had witnessed Hoover \u201cthrashing\u201d and \u201ccrying visibly\u201d during the organ harvesting procedure. The attorney general\u2019s office said it is investigating the case. \u201cOur Office has been in contact with advocates and members of Kentucky\u2019s federal delegation regarding this horrific allegation. In collaboration with our Kentucky law enforcement and prosecutorial partners, we will continue reviewing the facts to identify an appropriate response,\u201d Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman told Fox News<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

KODA and Baptist have both denied any wrongdoing. \u201cWe work closely with our patients and their families to ensure our patients\u2019 wishes for organ donation are followed,\u201d the hospital wrote in a statement<\/a>. KODA said the situation \u201chas not been accurately represented.\u201d Rhorer hopes that sharing her brother\u2019s story will \u201cgive one other family the courage to speak up or if it could save one other life.\u201d She herself hadn\u2019t felt like she could question the hospital\u2019s actions at the time. \u201cHe made \u2026 attempts to say: \u2018Hey, I\u2019m here,\u2019 but it was kind of ignored. They finally stopped the procedure because he was showing too many signs of life. In my heart of hearts, I knew something went on, but I compared it to David and Goliath. Who am I to go up against the medical system?\u201d Dorrie Dils, president of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, supports an investigation. \u201cIncidents like this are alarming. And we would want them to be properly reported and evaluated. And obviously we want to ensure that individuals are, in fact, dead when organ donation is proceeding. And we want the public to trust that that is indeed happening. The process is sacred.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kentucky Attorney-General’s office is reviewing a case after a man was declared brain dead at a Kentucky hospital, only to wake up moments before doctors began harvesting his organs. About three years ago, Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II was admitted to the emergency room at Baptist Health Richmond in Richmond, KY for cardiac arrest.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":24975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2444,2343],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","category-miracle"],"yoast_head":"\nBrain Dead Kentucky Man Wakes Up Just as His Organs Were About to Be Harvested<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/brain-dead-kentucky-man-wakes-up-just-as-his-organs-were-about-to-be-harvested\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brain Dead Kentucky Man Wakes Up Just as His Organs Were About to Be Harvested\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Kentucky Attorney-General’s office is reviewing a case after a man was declared brain dead at a Kentucky hospital, only to wake up moments before doctors began harvesting his organs. About three years ago, Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II was admitted to the emergency room at Baptist Health Richmond in Richmond, KY for cardiac arrest.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/brain-dead-kentucky-man-wakes-up-just-as-his-organs-were-about-to-be-harvested\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-24T13:15:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/10\/kentucky-man-brain-dead_credit-Ladonna-Horer-TikTok.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Brain Dead Kentucky Man Wakes Up Just as His Organs Were About to Be Harvested","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/brain-dead-kentucky-man-wakes-up-just-as-his-organs-were-about-to-be-harvested","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Brain Dead Kentucky Man Wakes Up Just as His Organs Were About to Be Harvested","og_description":"The Kentucky Attorney-General’s office is reviewing a case after a man was declared brain dead at a Kentucky hospital, only to wake up moments before doctors began harvesting his organs. About three years ago, Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II was admitted to the emergency room at Baptist Health Richmond in Richmond, KY for cardiac arrest.…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/10\/brain-dead-kentucky-man-wakes-up-just-as-his-organs-were-about-to-be-harvested","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2024-10-24T13:15:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/10\/kentucky-man-brain-dead_credit-Ladonna-Horer-TikTok.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia 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