A troubling case about an organ donation gone wrong has prompted this woman to remove her registration as an organ donor.
More than 100,000 in the United States are waiting for an organ transplant. About 17 people die every day awaiting the call since there aren’t enough donor organs for everyone who needs it—despite more than 170 million Americans being on the donor list.
In a viral video with more than 206,000 views, one woman explains why she removed herself as a registered donor.
Why did this woman take her name off the organ donor registry?
In the video, TikTok user @unapologeticallysouthern says that the same day she had to renew her driver’s license (with which you usually declare whether you want to be an organ donor), the story came out about a man who was declared brain dead but woke up moments before his organ removal surgery.
After that, she told her husband that she didn’t want to be in the same situation.
“If something happens to me, you need to let me lay there for about six weeks before you decide I’m brain dead, not two days,” @unapologeticallysouthern says.
The TikToker then asked if the donor’s family gets any kind of compensation since these are expensive surgeries.
The answer is no. It’s illegal to pay for an organ donation under the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984, but the family that gets your organs pays for medical care given to save your life before the organ donation, Mayo Clinic reported.
“It’s my body, it’s my choice, how bout that,” @unapologeticallysouthern says. “I’m not doing it because I don’t know if somebody would declare me brain dead because, I don’t know, one of my organs looked nice and ripe for someone else.”
To be clear, medical staff are meant to prioritize life-saving measures, not focus on the potential for organ donation.
@unapologeticallysouthern My Body My Choice! I’m no longer an Organ Donor and here is why…#mybodymychoice ♬ original sound – Unapologetically Southern
Kentucky man wakes up from surgery
A shocking story recently came out of Kentucky about a brain-dead man waking up before his organ harvesting surgery. This is the story @unapologeticallysouthern references in her video.
Anthony Thomas “TJ” Hoover II was taken into the hospital for a drug overdose, and doctors soon told his family that Hoover lacked reflexes and brain activity, local Kentucky news channel WKYT reported.
The doctors declared him brain dead, and Hoover was taken off life support. His family was informed that he was an organ donor, so they took him off for tests to check if his organs were viable for donation.
At one point, Hoover’s sister noticed her brother’s eyes open and seemingly track her and his other family members, but doctors told her not to read into it, that it was a common reflex.
When he was taken in for a cardiac catheterization to evaluate his heart, Hoover was thrashing on the table, showing obvious signs of life, but was sedated. The team that treated him didn’t inform anyone that he’d woken up and planned to move forward with the organ retrieval surgery, NPR reported.
But when the surgery came, nurses and doctors noticed something wasn’t right. Hoover was again thrashing and moving and was visibly crying. The doctors refused to proceed with the surgery, but despite their concerns, the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA) insisted they find other doctors to do the retrieval.
Hoover was taken home, where they presumed he wouldn’t live much longer, but he’s now been home, being cared for by his sister for three years. Hoover struggles to talk, walk, and hold on to memories.
The details of this incident did not come to light until earlier this year when one of the people working with the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates wrote to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The committee later held a hearing investigating organ procurement organizations, NPR reported.
Conspiracy theories
While conspiracy theories roam rampant about the likelihood of a case like Hoover’s happening again, they’ve been debunked.
Experts say a case like Hoover’s is rare but brings up questions about the organ donation system and how death is determined.
“I hope that a case like this really is extreme, but it does reveal some of those underlying issues that can arise when there are disagreements about the determination of death,” says Dr. Matthew DeCamp, an associate professor of Medicine and bioethicist at the University of Colorado.
Commenters react
“After working in ER I removed mine too like 4 years ago,” a top comment read.
“Take your name off the registry. In my state removing on DL does not remove you from the registry!” a person said.
“I can be a organ donor if I’m really gone, I’d like to save someone else. but only when I’m really gone,” another added.
The Daily Dot reached out to @unapologeticallysouthern for comment via TikTok direct message and comment.
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