Doctor in Trouble for Allegedly Accelerating Death of Organ Donor

One of the most often expressed reasons for people failing to agree to become organ donors is the fear that death could be hastened to obtain the organs.

In what is claimed to be the first such criminal case in the United States, Dr. Hootan Roozrokh of San Francisco was charged yesterday (July 30, 2007) by prosecutors in San Luis Obispo County for administering a harmful drug, excessive doses of morphine, and a sedative to Ruben Navarro to speed up his death so that his organs would be available for transplant.

After suffering respiratory and cardiac arrest and irreversible brain damage, Ruben’s family agreed to donate Ruben’s organs.  When Ruben was removed from life support, he continued to live instead of dying.  It is at this point that Ruben’s mother claims that he was given the lethal drugs causing Ruben’s death a day later.

The doctor’s lawyer, however, claims that the charges are “unfounded and ill-advised” and are part of a “witch hunt.”  In addition, the coroner’s office previously determined Ruben died of natural causes.

See Doctor charged in transplant inquiry, USA Today, July 31, 2007.