Witnesses reveal that doctors instructed doctors to harvest human organs, Kentucky Organ Donor Alliance denies it

Three years ago, an astonishing incident took place at Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Kentucky, where a patient, initially declared brain dead and about to have their heart removed for transplant, suddenly woke up on the operating table. This shocking event is currently under investigation by judicial and medical regulatory authorities.

According to witness accounts reported by the New York Post on October 18, the incident occurred in October 2021 when a patient, Thomas T.J. Hoover, was wheeled into the operating room. Natasha Miller, a nurse tasked with preserving recently removed organs, recalled, “He looked like he was still very much alive.”

Miller told NPR, “He was still moving, almost like he was trembling. We followed him in and could see tears streaming from the corners of his eyes. Clearly, he was crying.” This situation startled everyone in the operating room, leading two doctors originally assigned to perform the organ removal to refuse to participate.

Miller described the horrifying moment when she overheard a project coordinator from the Kentucky Organ Donation Alliance callously suggesting they replace the doctors and proceed with the organ removal.

Another employee of the alliance, Nyckoletta Martin, was shocked to discover that there were clear signs of life in the donor while the doctors were assessing the heart for its suitability for donation.

“That morning, the donor woke up while they were preparing for a cardiac catheterization,” Martin recounted. “He was shaking on the operating table. However, project records indicate that the physician, who had sworn to uphold the Hippocratic Oath, anesthetized him again as he struggled to sit up and continued with the organ removal plan.”

As a result of this incident, several members of the Kentucky Organ Donation Alliance resigned.

Martin expressed her deep concern, stating, “I have dedicated my life to organ donation and transplantation, and I’m terrified this kind of thing could happen without more protections for donors.”

Hoover’s sister, Donna Rhorer, shared that her brother was hospitalized due to an overdose, but he opened his eyes just as he was to be transferred from the ICU to the organ removal room. Medical staff told her it was just a reflex, suggesting her brother was not truly alive.

Officials from the Kentucky Organ Donation Alliance denied that any member instructed doctors to conduct organ removal on a living patient. The Kentucky Attorney General announced that investigators are looking into the matter, and the Federal Healthcare Resources and Services Administration is also conducting a review.

Having narrowly escaped this ordeal, Hoover now lives with his sister.