Woman says VA harvested husband's organs without consent

A Murfreesboro woman says the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and another agency harvested her husband's organs after his death last year — including the blind man's eyes — even though he was not a donor.

Wanda Frierson is now suing the troubled federal department, claiming poor care led to her husband's death and that the agency allowed Tennessee Donor Services to take her husband's organs without authorization. She is seeking $2.5 million in damages.

The federal agency, charged with caring for military service members, became the subject of scrutiny last year following allegations of substandard health care at its facilities nationwide and long wait times that led to deaths.

"They do need to be accountable," Wanda Frierson said of the VA, "because he was full of life. ... These are men and women who served their country. My husband trusted them."

Now she wishes he had not.

Her lawsuit claims the VA hospital in Murfreesboro provided substandard care and released Kevrek Frierson days before he died even though his health was worsening. He was readmitted because of his family's concerns, and a day later hospital staff found him without a pulse. He died despite resuscitation efforts on June 18. He was 54.

Medical records obtained by The Tennessean show prior to his death, Kevrek Frierson confirmed to hospital staff he was not a donor. But records dated the day after he died say he was listed as a donor.

A spokeswoman for the VA said she could not comment on the pending case.

Wanda and Kevrek Frierson met as teenagers while both were working at a now-defunct restaurant in Murfreesboro.

Her first kiss was their first kiss and it happened in the restaurant freezer, she said. He served 10 years in the Marine Corps and she raised their three children. Kevrek Frierson had been in declining health for several years before his death, suffering from diabetes and other ailments. Medical records say he was legally blind.

The death was hard, Wanda Frierson said, but what happened next compounded her pain. The lawsuit alleges a hospital staffer erroneously told Wanda Frierson her husband had agreed to be a donor.

The filing says Wanda Frierson, in a distressed state of mind, "acquiesced, but did not authorize, the completion of what amounts to a meaningless mutilation" of her husband's body.

"The off-the-scale odd thing is the idea is that it is clearly shown in his (medical) records he is not an organ donor, and that he's blind and they harvested his eyes," said Ken Burger, the Murfreesboro attorney Wanda Frierson hired. "It is grotesque almost."

Sharon Pakis, a spokeswoman for Tennessee Donor Services, said she could not comment on the pending case. But speaking generally, she said blindness would not preclude corneas from being recovered for other purposes, such as research. TDS is not named as a party in the lawsuit.

Wanda Frierson said her husband could not have been a donor, because he did not think about death.

"We never spoke of death," she said. "We concentrated on living. We had just come back from the Bahamas. We were making plans."

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 or on Twitter @sbarchenger.

What's next

The lawsuit is scheduled to go before federal Judge Aleta A. Trauger for an initial conference on July 13 in Nashville.