“He was moving, he was struggling”: Heart donor was alive on operating table
October 2021. The scene is absolutely terrifying. A man wakes up on the operating table as doctors prepare to remove his heart.
A few years later, a caregiver who witnessed this terrible mistake, looks back on the events.
Natasha Miller, an employee at the Baptist Health Hospital in Richmond (United States), was responsible for preserving the organ after it was removed from the patient. During the operation, she was the one who noticed that the donor was alive.
"He was moving, he was struggling on the bed," she confides. Before specifying: "And then when we went closer, you could see that he had tears in his eyes. He was visibly crying."
Immediately, the two doctors stopped their actions and refused to go any further. One of the surgeons didn't hide his anger at the monumental error. Why was he asked to remove this man's heart?
The patient had actually been admitted for an overdose. He was in intensive care when he was mistakenly chosen for the operation, reports Midi Libre. "The safety of our patients is always our top priority. We work closely with our patients and their families to ensure that their wishes regarding organ donation are respected," the hospital said.
After opening an investigation, the organization in charge of organ donation in the United States stated that their goal was to ensure "that people are indeed dead at the time of organ donation. And we want the public to have confidence that this is indeed happening. The process is sacred".
(MH with AsD - Source: Midi Libre - Illustration: Unsplash)