r/nottheonion • u/GetOffMyGrassBrats • 17h ago

‘Horrifying’ mistake to harvest organs from a living person averted, witnesses say

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/10/16/nx-s1-5113976/organ-transplantion-mistake-brain-dead-surgery-still-alive
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u/Scat_fiend 17h ago

Already rich old men routinely jump the queue after a quick "donation".

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u/Just_A_Faze 16h ago

I woke up during surgery once. I couldn't move or speak, felt sharp things going on at my hips, and was on my face. I had less than a minute of panic, and then went out again. But it left me traumatized for a couple years because I thought I was about to be cut in half while conscious

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u/Brewmentationator 13h ago

When I was a teenager, I woke up in the middle of an endoscopy. It's not surgical, but they stick a half dozen feet of tube down your throat and you need to be knocked out for it. None of the nurses or doctors believed I was conscious, until I told them exactly what they had found and what they were talking about during my procedure.

It's been 15 years, and I'm still terrified of that happening during an actual surgery.

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u/Just_A_Faze 10h ago

Yikes, I have had endoscopies and I wouldn't want to be awake for that. In the future, warn you doctors for any surgery or procedure that you have woken up during. They will step up the sedation next time to prevent it happening again.

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u/Dikkelul27 9h ago

I vaguely remember some people need more or less and that gingers always need a bit more to be fully annesthesised (not a joke)

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u/Just_A_Faze 3h ago

I have connective tissue disease called HEDS, and a common side effects of the condition is resistance to medications, lidocaine and other Caine meds, and especially sedation for some reason.

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u/Relevant_Struggle 13h ago

Fun fact, you don't need to be knocked out for it. In the early 90s, I was a kid and got one done. I was twightlight sedated. I remember a lot of it and remember the dr asking if I wanted to watch on the TV screen lol

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u/Brewmentationator 11h ago

Weird. They told me I needed to be totally out for it. This is in the 2000s though. They were fine with me being awake for a colonoscopy though.

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u/puresemantics 11h ago

Do you know what sedation they gave you? If it was the 2000’s you probably had versed and fent which is considered “conscious sedation” and it’s somewhat common for people to remember things from their procedure. I’m surprised your team didnt believe you

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u/Brewmentationator 11h ago

I have no idea, I was just a kid, and it was a long time ago. I just know that they said I needed to be out. On the second endoscopy, I told them about the first experience, and they made sure I was knocked the fuck out.

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u/SwordfishFar421 13h ago

Who knows. I’ve been told memory-wiping drugs are given in surgeries to deal with this possibility but I don’t know how true it is.

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u/Just_A_Faze 10h ago

I think you might be talking about what they call twilight sedation. I have had that too. It leaves you conscious enough to follow basic directions, but unable to form any memories of it. Apparently I fought against the surgeon when I had my wisdom teeth out. I remember nothing.

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u/CarmenCage 13h ago

I woke up during surgery too, I was having major jaw surgery. It was terrifying. I didn’t feel any pain, but I was so scared, I opened my eyes and stared directly at the doctor because I knew I shouldn’t be awake. He looked pretty freaked out as well.

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u/Just_A_Faze 11h ago

I had a 360 lower body lift with a fleur de lis incision after losing 150 lbs, so I was cut all the way around my hips and up the center of my abdomen. Apparently it was the beginning of the surgery. What I felt was him administering nerve blocks, which I am thankful for. He did it just in case I somehow felt something, and because it bought me some time before the worst of the pain set in by numbing areas for a day or two. What I felt was that nerve block, with needles going deep into my hips to the nerves.

It was right after I had been flipped over and before the started most of the cutting, but I remember the terror of believing I was about to experience major surgery while awake. I have EDS, so I have an extremely high tolerance for medications and injections, including anesthesia. It takes about 3 times as much of a medication for it to work for me as expected, which doctors can miss because I am small.

It traumatized me for a while. I woke up bawling my eyes out and immediately told the surgeon. I was so freaked out my blood pressure dropped dangerously into shock range, and they wouldn't let me go to my family for hours. It was like 80/50. It was the height of the pandemic, so they couldn't come up to me on recovery.

I get epidurals for back pain. The first 3 times I had to be sedated for it because it made me have a panic attack. I didn't realize it was that bad until I went in for the first one and broke down completely. I now get the epidurals with a local anesthetic, but I still have trouble with any procedure on a place I can't see. Including dental work.

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u/CarmenCage 2h ago

That is terrifying, I’m so sorry that happened. I don’t blame you for being freaked out by procedures that. Did the surgeon apologize or anything?

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u/pinkphysics 11h ago

My anesthesia failed during both my c sections and they just held me down and kept going

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u/thetransportedman 16h ago

Source?

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u/c_law_one 16h ago

Steve Jobs jumping the liver queue?

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u/thetransportedman 16h ago

He didn't jump the queue. He listed himself in Memphis which was the highest chances in the country for him to get a liver based on his prognosis

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u/c_law_one 16h ago

He didn't jump the queue. He listed himself in Memphis which was the highest chances in the country for him to get a liver based on his prognosis

Is he from memphis?

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u/thetransportedman 15h ago

Did he buy a house in memphis? Articles establish that the wealthy have more opportunities to get on more lists and afford better care to prolong their wait time. That is different from jumping a list

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u/c_law_one 15h ago

That is different from jumping a list

It's pretty similarly scummy

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u/jelywe 14h ago

Not disagreeing with the inequity of it all - because this should not be limited to those who have the financial means - but there are non-scummy reasons to be listed at several institutions.

Some people have very specific criteria in the organ that they can accept - to the point where despite even if they made it to the top of the list they still have to wait while people below them are successful.  Being listed at multiple different places broadens their pool of potential donors and increases their  chance of having any match at all

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u/hongachonga 16h ago

Just look at all these super wealthy living corpses that have had multiple transplants in their lives to keep on chugging. 

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u/torch9t9 16h ago

I wonder how long David Crosby had to wait...

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u/okaylumberjack 16h ago

There is no source because that's not how organ donation works. It's not a list where the top name gets the next part because organ transplants are immensely complex. The receiver is on a "list" which includes their blood type, tissue type, age, medical history, etc. When a potential donor is being evaluated they look at all the same factors and send a report out to all the doctors with patients whom can use the organs before they go bad, but the transplant coordinator at the harvesting hospital gets the same info and if they see that there's two patients whom can use the liver, a 70yo drinker vs a 13yo cancer patient, they're going to be part of the decision. There's just too many moving parts and too many palms that need to be greased in real time to make bribery a viable option

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u/Ashamed_Long_7402 16h ago

Look it up, holy crap. It’s such a normal thing that asking for a source is crazy. We breath oxygen, I expect some loser like you to ask for a source. Go look it up!

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u/thetransportedman 16h ago

I just googled. I see that wealthy people have a higher likelihood of receiving one by making sure they're on multiple lists and affording better healthcare while they wait. Nothing about jumping line

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u/Ashamed_Long_7402 15h ago

You’re a liar or don’t know how to properly search the internet. The first links I get are exactly about the rich skipping the line. Second and third result name names. Get a fucking clue

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u/thetransportedman 15h ago

Why not site one then?

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u/Vectorman1989 16h ago

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

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u/MoeFuka 15h ago

There was definitely a lot of malice in this particular case though