You can donate your organs without any hesitation!

This story brought back traumatic memories to me.
I decided to donate my mother's corneas when the doctors treating her declared her brain dead. But my sister was very scared. "What if she isn't actually dead?", she asked me, "What if she gets up again from her deep sleep? She won't have eyes to see!"

Despite my sister's fear, I went ahead and signed the papers. The doctors removed her corneas and transplanted them to two blind people and I was told the surgery was successful. My mother’s corneas gave sight to two blind people! That feeling was incomparable! After her cremation, I told my sister her fears were exaggerated and there wasn’t anything to worry.

Are they, really?

A case of a Kentucky man waking up as his organs were about to be harvested for donation has called into question the protocols used by hospitals and organ donation networks to qualify death.

Whistleblower Nyckoletta Martin outlined the horrifying case in a letter addressing the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee's September hearing on the nation's organ procurement and transplantation system.

While employed as an organ preservationist for Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA), Martin had allegedly reviewed case notes on the October 2021 surgical procedure.

According to a report by the US public broadcasting organization National Public Radio (NPR), those case notes indicated the donor had shown signs of life following a clinical test to evaluate the heart's fitness for transplant purposes. The donor had woken up during his procedure that morning for a cardiac catheterization. And he was thrashing around on the table.

The patient at the center of the incident is 36-year-old Anthony Thomas 'TJ' Hoover II, who had been rushed to Baptist Health Hospital in Richmond, Kentucky, following a drug overdose. Declared brain dead in the wake of a cardiac arrest, TJ was removed from life support and prepared for organ donation in accordance with his wishes. TJ's sister Donna Rhorer was by her brother's side following his passing. Along with other family members, Rhorer recalled seeing TJ's eyes open and looking about on the way to the theater, to be told by staff this was a common reflex. It was only later when TJ displayed more exaggerated movements on the operating table and "was crying visibly" that medical staff in the room became alarmed.

In a chaotic and emotionally charged response to the situation, surgeons declined to continue the procedure .

"It was very chaotic. Everyone was just very upset."

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?

Deep concerns have been raised about the potential for errors such as these.

But these are rare cases. You don't have to worry. Almost all doctors take care to see that the patient actually is really brain dead before harvesting his or her organs. You can trust them.

Please donate your organs and those of your loved ones without any hesitation. That saves many lives.

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/10/16/nx-s1-511...