While this doctor may be the first one charged, I firmly believe the behavior is not isolated.
Transplant surgeon charged with trying to hasten patient’s death
The physician faces felony counts alleging he tried to hasten a man’s demise to make use of his organs.
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ACCUSED: Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, 33, of San Francisco faces three felony charges.
(www.permanente.net)
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By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Times Staff Writers
July 31, 2007
A San Francisco transplant surgeon was criminally charged Monday with excessively prescribing drugs to a 25-year-old disabled man last year in order to hasten his death and harvest his organs sooner.
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SORROW: Rosa Novarro holds a photo of her son, Ruben Navarro, at her home in Oxnard. She says he was exploited.
(Carlos Chavez / LAT)
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The felony charges are believed to be the first in the nation against a physician for his role in a transplant.
Experts said the case is likely to raise uneasiness among potential organ donors and could prompt doctors to shy away from a somewhat controversial practice of retrieving organs before a patient is brain dead.
The San Luis Obispo County district attorney’s office accused Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, 33, of dependent adult abuse, administering a harmful substance and prescribing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose.
The surgeon allegedly ordered massive amounts of narcotic painkillers and sedatives for Ruben Navarro, a physically and mentally disabled man, on Feb. 3, 2006. In addition, Roozrokh is accused of administering the antiseptic Betadine through a feeding tube into Navarro’s stomach, a sterilization procedure typically done after a donor is dead.
“The law and the facts indicated that Dr. Roozrokh … tried to accelerate [Navarro’s] death to facilitate the harvesting of his organs,” said Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Brown.
Navarro survived for more than seven hours after he was removed from life support and given the drugs. By that time, his organs were no longer viable and could not be recovered.
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‘They took advantage of him and me’: “They mistreated him and they abused him and they took advantage of him and me,” said Rosa Navarro, who is suing Roozrokh, the regional transplant procurement group, Sierra Vista and others.
“He didn’t die with dignity, and I didn’t have the chance to really say goodbye to him. I don’t think it’s right. These people need to pay for what they did to him.”
(Carlos Chavez / LAT)