Case of Anthony Thomas ‘TJ’ Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials
A man who had gone into cardiac arrest and been declared brain dead woke up as surgeons in his home state of Kentucky were in the middle of harvesting his organs for donation, his family has told media outlets.
As reported Thursday by both National Public Radio and the Kentucky news station WKYT, the case of Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials. Officials within the US’s organ-procurement system insist there are safeguards in place to prevent such episodes, though his family told the outlets their experience highlights a need for at least some reform.
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WKYT reported that Rhorer only learned the full details of her brother’s surgery at the hands of Baptist and the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (Koda) in January. That’s when a former employee of Koda contacted her before sending a letter to a congressional committee that in September held a hearing scrutinizing organ-procurement organizations, NPR reported.
The letter’s author said she saw Hoover begin “thrashing” around on the operating table as well as start “crying visibly”, according to NPR.
I opted out as an organ donor a few years ago and it was after reading comments like yours where people described the process of organ harvesting. I find it to be pretty dehumanizing. I think there is a lot of pressure to do it without much education on the subject. Additionally I wish I could control where my organs went, I wish I could consent right before I died and I wish there wasn’t a giant Rube Goldberg machine of financial incentives (that can be cheated to benefit the wealthy) driving the entire enterprise, but we don’t live in a perfect world. I hope if I’m ever I situation where I would need a transplant I will not be a hypocrite and let myself die or just survive on life support. This article is just a drop in the bucket, and to me, your comment and this case only highlight sentiments that were already there. We are not animals we can’t put blinders on people in the hopes that more of them sign up to have their organs harvested after death using a system that is arguably kinda fucked up. There is this attitude and arrogance that come from the medical profession where people think because they know best and want to keep patients in the dark in matters of life and death (CDC lying about masks, to absolute catastrophes like the case of Memorial Medical Center after hurricane Katrina)
You opted out of potentially saving lives because you feel like the necessary process of rapidly removing and preserving quickly decaying organs doesn’t treat the cadaver with proper respect?
That’s a really strange stance.
I’m glad you can’t. I realize the system isn’t perfect, but it’s better than the absurd complexity of letting the flawed and uneducated person dying decide who gets them. Imagine, for example, bigots demanding no black person or gay person gets their organs. Screw that. Continue to improve the system, but a system needs to be in place.
See, this is what I mean 👆 “iT sAvEs liVess, wHat arE yOu a PieCe of ShiT?” Using social pressure to shame others into a system, which if they were educated on it, they probably wouldn’t agree to it.
More than 60% of the people that receive organ transplants are 50 or older. To tell you the truth, no I don’t care about being their hero. And as I mentioned there is a for profit incentive system in place which I’m not comfortable with (in the US at least) And just as a bigot wouldn’t want their organ going to a certain portion of the population, I wouldn’t want my organs going to a bigot or some wealthy asshole that can afford the procedure while others die. Also I wouldn’t want to find myself at deaths door surrounded by a transplant team circling my dying body like vultures treating my body like a commodity.
Those were not my words.
I think it’s wild that you care about what happens to your organs after you die. I do think it’s a selfish position, personally, but you do you. I just doubt you’ll feel as strongly opposed to organ donation if you ever find yourself needing one.