An American woman, Danella Gallegos, is lucky to be alive as she came very close to having her internal organs harvested after doctors erroneously believed she was dead.
Her intriguing story, which happened in 2022, is emerging as American authorities beamed a searchlight on the organ harvesting industry amid accusations that they were adopting underhanded practices to get organs.
Gallegos was 38 years of age at the time of the incident. She fell on hard times, became homeless and suffered a medical emergency.
She was rushed to the Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she remained in a coma.
Doctors later told her family she could not pull through, leading her family to agree to donate her organs.
A procurement organisation, New Mexico Donor Services, was contacted, and arrangements were made to extract her internal organs.
However, just before the procedure, family members of the comatose Gallegos said they saw tears in her eyes.
Their observation was allegedly brushed aside by donation coordinators, who argued that watery eyes were just a reflex.
On the day of the procedure, when Gallegos’ body was being prepared, one of Gallegos’ sisters said she felt Danella move when she held her hand.
Doctors in a pre-surgery room were shocked when they asked Gallegos to blink if she could hear them, and she did.
It became apparent that while she was in a coma, she was still medically alive.
It was alleged that despite this startling discovery, the organ coordinator in the room advised the doctors to inject the patient with morphine so they could carry on with the procedure.
According to The New York Times, the doctors ignored the organ coordinators, and returned the patient to the Intensive Care Unit.
Gallegos made a full recovery and has since turned her life around.
In an interview, the lucky woman said she “feels so fortunate” to be alive, after coming so close to being cannibalised alive.
She recalled feeling fear while lying there in the hospital in a coma.
The Presbyterian Hospital said they were reviewing the entire episode with a view to strengthening their processes to avoid abuse.
A case similar to Gallegos’ happened in 2021 to Anthony Hoover. His own organs were to be removed after being in a coma and on life support for some time.
He suddenly woke up just before he was opened up. He has also made a full recovery.
It has been stated that errors happen often because the window between when a person dies and when their organs are viable is short.
This situation makes the donation coordinators extra anxious, leading to errors of judgment or hasty decisions.
Investigation revealed that in Kentucky, the state’s organ procurement organisation carried out organ harvesting on 73 donors who showed signs of consciousness.
One of the 73 donors allegedly shook his head and brought up his knees to his chest.
