n October 26, 2021, at Baptist Health Richmond in Kentucky, 36‑year‑old Anthony “TJ” Hoover II was declared brain dead after a drug overdose. Doctors told his family he had no reflexes or brain activity. He had previously consented to , and a medical team began preparations. But about an hour into the procedure, the surgeons abruptly stopped. According to a whistleblower letter later sent to Congress, Hoover had begun “thrashing” on the operating table. Against all odds, he had regained consciousness. Though left with to speech, , and mobility because of the drug overdose, Hoover survived—and was eventually discharged into the care of his sister. His case—and others like it, , to , where people have woken in , coffins, or during last rites—force us to confront a mind-boggling possibility: What if death isn’t the neat, cataclysmic, all-at-once event our medical protocols make it out to be?
