From "Surgeon enters third not-guilty plea in case of failed organ harvest" by Nick Wilson, posted 10/03/07 at sanluisobispo.com
The San Francisco transplant surgeon accused of prescribing excessive painkillers and sedatives last year to hasten a disabled San Luis Obispo man’s death during a failed organ harvest pleaded not guilty Monday to an amended felony charge.
Dr. Hootan Roozrokh was in San Luis Obispo Superior Court for another hearing in his case. He faces three charges in connection with the attempt to harvest 25-year-old Ruben Navarro’s organs at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center.
...Prosecutors say the criminal charges are unprecedented in the United States.
They allege that Roozrokh violated state law and Sierra Vista protocol Feb. 3, 2006, when he took control of Navarro’s care and ordered a nurse to administer abnormally high doses of morphine and Ativan to hasten death. They also say Roozrokh injected Betadine, a topical antiseptic, into Navarro’s feeding tube.
Navarro did not die within 30 minutes of being removed from life support — the period in which his organs remained viable for transplant. He died the following morning, eight hours after Roozrokh left the hospital, Schwartzbach has said.
Navarro had a rare, degenerative disease and suffered irreversible brain damage before being taken to the hospital Jan. 29, 2006.
Read the whole article.
