news/cms/202410/20/news-p.v1.20241020.91fd48aa90974ef6b3d3f28f0e7df9d3_R.png" data-width="720" data-height="485" /> Enlarge photo According to the British Daily Mail on the 18th (local time), Thomas TJ Hoover II, a 36-year-old man, was transported to Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Kentucky, USA, due to a drug overdose in October 2021, and was declared brain dead. [사진 출처 = 데일리메일]
A great controversy has arisen after it was revealed that a patient who had been declared brain dead was revived just before organ removal.
According to the British Daily Mail on the 18th (local time), Thomas TJ Hoover II, a 36-year-old man, was transported to Baptist Health Richmond Hospital in Kentucky, USA, due to a drug overdose in October 2021, and was declared brain dead.
He was a candidate for organ donation, and when he was pronounced dead, the process for organ donation began.
At that moment, the medical staff faced a shocking situation. According to testimony from employees at the time, Hoover appeared to be alive, writhing in fear and shedding tears on the operating room table as surgeons prepared to remove his body parts.
Huber’s younger sister, Donna Laura, also said, “When Huber was transferred from the intensive care unit to the operating room, he seemed to open his eyes and look around. “It was as if he was letting us know, ‘I’m still here,’” he said.
However, medical staff believed it was a common reflex that could occur in a deceased person.
The surgeon who was trying to remove the heart left the operating room, saying, “I don’t want to be involved in this case any more,” and the medical staff was thrown into confusion, and Huber’s transplant surgery was eventually stopped.
After this incident, some hospital employees suffered mental shock and resigned, and some suffering from psychological aftereffects had to receive mental treatment.
Due to this incident, the hospital is suspected of attempting to harvest organs while the donor was still alive. This is because employees working at the time claimed that brain death was only made after the surgeon who would perform the organ removal went to Hoover.
Also, after deciding not to proceed with organ harvesting, Kentucky Organ Donation Partners said in a phone call with the hospital, “We will proceed with this case anyway. It was also known that he said, “Please find another doctor.”
Some of the medical staff who participated in the surgery at the time became whistleblowers and submitted a letter about the incident to the U.S. House of Representatives hearing on organ procurement.
Kentucky Organ Donation Partners and the hospital are completely denying the related controversy.
An official from Kentucky Organ Donation Partners drew the line, saying, “No one has ever been pressured to remove organs from living patients,” and “We do not retrieve organs from living patients.”
The hospital also emphasized, “We prioritize patient safety,” and added, “We are working closely with patients and their families to ensure that their wishes regarding organ donation are upheld.”
As the incident grew, the U.S. Attorney General of Kentucky and the U.S. Health Care Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) began investigating the incident.
Dr. Robert Trug, director of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard University Medical School, said, “It is a terrible problem, but it is a problem that requires careful tracking,” and added, “We must prevent this from happening again by properly investigating the truth.”
