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    • Authorities investigate after Kentucky man wakes up before organ donation
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    Authorities investigate after Kentucky man wakes up before organ donation

    Umito Posted on

    “KODA had multiple opportunities to do the right thing,” said Nyckoletta Martin, an organ conservator who has worked with Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates.

    A Kentucky man who had been declared brain dead and was preparing to donate organs woke up before undergoing the procedure, and the incident sparked an investigation and led several people to quit their jobs.

    Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II, 36, woke up several times before having to donate his organs in October 2021 in Richmond, Kentucky, said Nyckoletta Martin, an organ conservator with Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates who left his job because of the incident. THE UNITED STATES TODAY.

    “It was a big disaster,” Martin said.

    During his walk of honor, a “ceremony of respect where people gather in the corridors of the hospital as the donor is moved to the room where the recovery operation begins”, according to Health and Resources Administrationhe woke up and started following his family members with his eyes.

    When his family noticed it, they were told it was a normal reflex.

    His sister, Donna Rhorer, “knew something was wrong because he was looking at her,” Martin said.

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    Organ Preserver: Hoover Awakened Before Surgery

    Hoover woke up hours before the organ donation procedure took place, according to Martin.

    As a cardiac catheterization was being performed to check if his heart was healthy enough to be donated, he woke up.

    “He woke up in response to the pain he felt during this heart puncture,” she said. “Because when they go back up into the arteries, it’s really painful.”

    After waking up, he was sedated.

    “They shouldn’t have given him any other medications,” Martin said. “They should have stopped everything and brought him back to the ICU at that point, but they didn’t. So that’s like the first warning sign.”

    The test was conducted at 9 a.m. and the march of honor was supposed to take place the same day around 4 p.m.

    Family didn’t know Hoover had woken up

    Hoover was hospitalized in the emergency room at Baptist Health Richmond on October 25, 2021 due to a drug overdose, according to the local news station. WKYT And NPR.

    He was in cardiac arrest for 35 minutes and was declared brain dead, according to Martin.

    While the hospital thought Hoover was brain dead, the Kentucky Organ Donor Association, KODA, treated him as a donor after a case of cardiac death.

    The day after he was admitted, his family was informed that he had no brain activity, Rhorer told WKYT. Hoover’s family decided to take him off life support and he was said to be a registered organ donor.

    Rhorer didn’t find out what happened to his brother when he was taken into the procedure room until Martin called and told him in January of this year, according to KPTV.

    USA TODAY has reached out to the hospital and KODA for comment but has not yet received a response.

    Doctors withdraw after signs of life

    Two doctors were present when Hoover began showing signs of life before the procedure in the afternoon and refused to proceed.

    “They both said no, and they just left,” Martin said.

    An on-site coordinator called KODA about the situation and explained to them what had happened.

    “I think she just expected them to say, ‘Well, okay, let’s take him back to the ICU and write off the case,'” Martin said. “But instead they pressured her to find another surgeon to, you know, finish the case, or else she would get fired.”

    The coordinator, whom Martin did not name, resigned the same day.

    “It’s important to understand that KODA had multiple opportunities to do the right thing,” Martin said.

    Martin and another person involved in the case also resigned due to the situation.

    Organ conservator says she was fired after incident

    Martin, who said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after his experience working with KODA, wrote a letter to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the United States House of Representatives on pressure to harvest organs from a living person, The Wall Street Journal reported.

    His letter was discussed during a audience the committee met on September 11 under the title “A Year Removed: Oversight of Implementation of the American Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act.”

    After the hearing, she said she was fired from her job at Paragonix, which specializes in manufacturing coolers used to transport organ donations.

    The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office is also investigating the incident, reported KPTV.

    USA TODAY reached out to the attorney general’s office but did not receive a response.

    Umito
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