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(TJV) Natasha Miller was preparing for a routine procedure at Baptist Health hospital in Richmond, Kentucky, focused on preserving donated organs for transplantation. But as nurses wheeled in the donor, she realized something was terribly wrong. Despite being declared dead, the patient seemed alarmingly alive.
“He was moving around—kind of thrashing. Like, moving, thrashing around on the bed,” Miller told NPR. “When we went over there, you could see he had tears coming down. He was crying visibly.”
The unsettling scene rattled everyone in the operating room, including the two doctors on duty. They quickly refused to participate in the organ retrieval process. According to Miller, one surgeon abruptly declared, “I’m out of it. I don’t want to have anything to do with it.” The atmosphere in the room turned chaotic.
Miller also recalled hearing the hospital’s case coordinator urgently consulting with a supervisor from her employer, Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA). “She was told to ‘find another doctor to do it,’” Miller told NPR. But finding a replacement wasn’t an option, and the coordinator broke down under the pressure.
Eventually, the organ retrieval was canceled. However, the incident left deep scars. Nyckoletta Martin, another organ preservationist, resigned over the October 2021 event. “I’ve dedicated my entire life to organ donation and transplant. It’s very scary to me now that these things are allowed to happen,” Martin revealed to NPR.
Her fear stemmed from learning that the donor had shown signs of life earlier that same day during a cardiac catheterization—a test to evaluate the heart for potential donation.
Martin noted that KODA officials downplayed the incident afterward, a stance that deeply unsettled her. “That’s everybody’s worst nightmare, right? Being alive during surgery and knowing that someone is going to cut you open and take your body parts out?” she told NPR.
The patient, identified as 36-year-old Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II, had been rushed to the hospital following a drug overdose, according to his sister, Donna Rhorer. She was present that day and became suspicious when her brother appeared to open his eyes while being moved to the operating room. “It was like it was his way of letting us know, you know, ‘Hey, I’m still here,’” Rhorer shared with NPR. Yet, the family was assured that what they witnessed was merely a reflex. Today, TJ lives with Rhorer, who serves as his legal guardian.
This controversial episode gained further attention in September when Martin wrote a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, prompting an investigation into organ procurement practices. The Kentucky Attorney General’s office, federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and even the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General have since opened reviews, NPR reported.
In response to the allegations, KODA denied any wrongdoing, asserting that “this case has not been accurately represented.” Julie Bergin, president and chief operating officer of the organization, stressed to NPR, “KODA does not recover organs from living patients. KODA has never pressured its team members to do so.”
However, the story has raised broader concerns about the safety and ethics of organ procurement. Experts like Dr. Robert Truog of Harvard Medical School emphasized the need for thorough investigations while maintaining that such incidents should be isolated. “I believe that these are really one-offs that hopefully we’ll be able to get to the bottom of,” Truog told NPR.
The chilling events at Baptist Health have undermined public confidence in the organ donation system, NPR noted. Critics argue that the pressure to increase organ donations is high, with more than 103,000 people currently on transplant waiting lists across the U.S. Dr. Matthew DeCamp of the University of Colorado highlighted the inherent tension: “It does reveal some of those underlying issues that can arise when there are disagreements about the determination of death.”
For Donna Rhorer and her brother, the trauma remains raw. TJ still grapples with memory loss and struggles with basic tasks. Reflecting on the incident, Rhorer expressed her disillusionment. “I feel betrayed by the fact that the people that were telling us he was brain dead and then he wakes up,” she said to NPR. “They are trying to play God… and you kind of lose your faith in humanity a little bit.”
