Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

[highplainsdem]

Source: NYT

Four years ago, an unconscious Kentucky man began to awaken as he was about to be removed from life support so his organs could be donated. Even though the man cried, pulled his legs to his chest and shook his head, officials still tried to move forward.

Now, a federal investigation has found that officials at the nonprofit in charge of coordinating organ donations in Kentucky ignored signs of growing alertness not only in that patient but also in dozens of other potential donors.

-snip-

Typically, the patient is taken to an operating room where hospital workers withdraw life support and wait. The organs are considered viable for donation only if the patient dies within an hour or two. If that happens, the procurement organization’s team waits five more minutes and then begins removing organs. Strict rules are supposed to ensure that no retrieval begins before death or causes it.

-snip-

But the investigation found that the organization’s employees repeatedly pressured families to authorize donation, improperly took over cases from doctors and tried to push hospital staff to remove life support and allow for surgery even if there were indications of growing awareness in patients.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/us/kentucky-organ-donations.html

[JMCKUSICK]

1. This is supposed to be an Onion headline.

That it isn't is so unbelievably tragic and grotesque that these people need a stint in prison.

[SheltieLover]

2. A life stint in prison. No pardons!

[SheltieLover]

3. Beyond ridiculous!

These people need to be in prison for life. No pardons!

[DENVERPOPS]

4. Kentucky..........LOL

They will merely brush the story aside as FAKE NEWS.........Like everything else in their world except Fox News......

[Baitball Blogger]

5. This. The next time someone asks me why I refuse to be an organ donor, it's

because of this.

[defacto7]

8. We've been too trusting for too long.

Trust is dead where money thrives.

[peacebuzzard]

17. same.

exactly as you stated. It is a big industry: the organ availability.

[cadoman]

20. and tbh it's why this thread should be locked

We saw the damage that misinformation did w/respect to vaccination and masking. Now they are coming for organ donation...

[sheshe2]

6. Unravel the story...expose them.

Find the people that are funding the harvesting. It is a very lucrative business, especially if these organs are going to the highest bidder.

No doubt in my mind that there is a story here. It wasn't just one little, "oops', mistake.

[defacto7]

9. Illegal organ harvesting has been going on in third world countries for many years

utilizing street people, mostly children, who are taken live and well. Now, the ugliness in humanity doesn't just rise from desperation but from cool greed and cold apathy.

[Mysterian]

7. Real life ghouls

Roaming Kentucky hospitals.

[PurgedVoter]

10. I think I read the book, "Coma" in the late 70's

This is not terribly far off from what the author predicted.

[PatSeg]

11. What a nightmare

[Wiz Imp]

12. Was the plot of a Law & Order episode "Harvest" from Season 8

the victim of a drive-by shooting who was in a coma and nearly brain dead was prepped to have her organs harvested before she was actually dead. The Doctor did it in order to deliver her organs to a hospital where he was hoping to get a job. McCoy's cross examination of the doctor is great where he accuses the doctor of pumping the victim full of morphine while harvesting her organs so she wouldn't wake up screaming in the middle of it.

A variation of this issue was explored in the movie "Extreme Measures" from 1996.

Gene Hackman plays a doctor who leads an organization that performs spinal experiments on mostly healthy homeless people in an attempt to find a cure for paralysis. Turns out the experiments on the homeless were done without their consent and all ended up dying even though they were healthy to begin with.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Measures

Stuff like this is pure evil.

[question everything]

15. Also a plot on "Chicago Hope"

The Christine Lahti character was ready to remove an organ, was pounding on the operating table and the young anesthesiologist then commented: Dr. Austin every time when you pound and says he is dead his blood pressure rises..

And that was it. He was rushed to be revived. For some reason I remember this story.

[sdfernando]

13. Reminds me of the movie COMA. /nt

[markodochartaigh]

14. I remember the liver "donation"

after "The Galaxy Song".

?feature=shared

[perdita9]

16. I took myself off the organ donor list years ago

I decided I would never get a transplant for myself. If you look into this practice there's much about it that is ethically troubling.

[Oopsie Daisy]

18. I think I need to get online and remove the organ donor emblem from my driver's license.

[Blue Full Moon]

19. New scientist magazine

Had an article about transplants and it's more common and there's lots of money to be made. Young, poor and hard to prove malpractice.

[Vinca]

21. Yike! That's the stuff of nightmares.

[IbogaProject]

22. Yet another reason we need one Single Payer Insurance for everyone here

The money involved causes this.

[GJGCA]

23. Grim joke about similar situation...

...
Finally the New Yorker steps forward. "Gimme a fork."

The cannibals are a bit mystified, but nonetheless give him a fork. He proceeds to stab himself all over with the fork. Arms, legs, face, torso. Anywhere he can stab himself with it, he does so.

The chief is aghast. "Good Lord! What are you doing?!?!?!"

The New Yorker bellows,

"SO MUCH FOR YER CANOE, YA FUCKING JERKS!"

https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/2e0z4f/a_frenchman_a_brit_and_a_new_yorker_go_on_a_safari/

[TomSlick]

24. I'm skeptical. The New York Times is not a credible source anymore.

This kind of story has been circulated for years and are a drag on people signing up to be organ donors.

See the Mayo Clinic's rebuttal to such stories. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/organ-donation/art-20047529