“We had his honor walk Friday afternoon. During his honor walk, his eyes started opening up. He was tracking. His eyes were tracking us around. We were told it was just reflexes, just a normal thing. Who are we to question the medical system?”

TJ was then taken into organ retrieval surgery.

“About an hour into it, the doctor came out and got us. He said he wasn’t ready. He woke up. But we also hadn’t been told during his heart catheterization that morning, he woke up then. If we had known that, then clearly we would have known he wasn’t brain dead,” Rhorer said.

Rhorer was told to take TJ home and make him comfortable. She was told he wouldn’t live long. Rhorer’s been caring for her brother for three years now.

“He made several attempts to say, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ But it was kind of ignored. They finally stopped the procedure because he was showing too many signs of life,” Rhorer said.

Natasha Miller, who works at the hospital as an organ preservationist for Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA), was in the operating room when Hoover was brought in. She told NPR it was immediately evident something was wrong.

"He was moving around — kind of thrashing. Like, moving, thrashing around on the bed," Miller said. "And then when we went over there, you could see he had tears coming down. He was crying visibly."

Two doctors immediately refused to move forward with the organ procurement surgery, and Miller said the staff was extremely upset at what they had witnessed. Yet a supervisor for KODA allegedly pressured staff to continue, despite the clear signs of awareness from Hoover.

"[T]he coordinator calls the supervisor at the time," Miller said. "And she was saying that he was telling her that she needed to 'find another doctor to do it' – that, 'We were going to do this case. She needs to find someone else.' And she's like, 'There is no one else.' She's crying — the coordinator — because she's getting yelled at."

103 cases (29.3%) showed concerning features, including 73 patients with neurological signs incompatible with organ donation.

That some potential donors may not have been deceased at the time organ procurement was initiated — raising serious questions.

Evidence pointed to poor neurologic assessments, lack of coordination with medical teams, questionable consent practices, and misclassification of causes of death, particularly in overdose cases.

“We had his honor walk Friday afternoon. During his honor walk, his eyes started opening up. He was tracking. His eyes were tracking us around. We were told it was just reflexes, just a normal thing. Who are we to question the medical system?”

TJ was then taken into organ retrieval surgery.

“About an hour into it, the doctor came out and got us. He said he wasn’t ready. He woke up. But we also hadn’t been told during his heart catheterization that morning, he woke up then. If we had known that, then clearly we would have known he wasn’t brain dead,” Rhorer said.

Rhorer was told to take TJ home and make him comfortable. She was told he wouldn’t live long. Rhorer’s been caring for her brother for three years now.

“He made several attempts to say, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ But it was kind of ignored. They finally stopped the procedure because he was showing too many signs of life,” Rhorer said.

Natasha Miller, who works at the hospital as an organ preservationist for Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA), was in the operating room when Hoover was brought in. She told NPR it was immediately evident something was wrong.

"He was moving around — kind of thrashing. Like, moving, thrashing around on the bed," Miller said. "And then when we went over there, you could see he had tears coming down. He was crying visibly."

Two doctors immediately refused to move forward with the organ procurement surgery, and Miller said the staff was extremely upset at what they had witnessed. Yet a supervisor for KODA allegedly pressured staff to continue, despite the clear signs of awareness from Hoover.

"[T]he coordinator calls the supervisor at the time," Miller said. "And she was saying that he was telling her that she needed to 'find another doctor to do it' – that, 'We were going to do this case. She needs to find someone else.' And she's like, 'There is no one else.' She's crying — the coordinator — because she's getting yelled at."

103 cases (29.3%) showed concerning features, including 73 patients with neurological signs incompatible with organ donation.

That some potential donors may not have been deceased at the time organ procurement was initiated — raising serious questions.

Evidence pointed to poor neurologic assessments, lack of coordination with medical teams, questionable consent practices, and misclassification of causes of death, particularly in overdose cases.