Organ grinder

So wrong on so many levels. Not to mention that if you give someone massive amounts of drugs, their organs won’t be in great shape.

A San Francisco transplant surgeon was criminally charged today with allegedly attempting to hasten the death last year of a 26-year-old disabled man on life support in order to harvest his organs more quickly.

The charges are the first in the nation against a physician for his role in a transplant and are sure to raise further uneasiness about a somewhat controversial practice in which organs are retrieved 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 an unlawful controlled substance without legitimate medical purpose.

The surgeon allegedly ordered massive amounts of narcotic painkillers and sedatives for Ruben Navarro, a physically and mentally disabled man, “to accelerate Mr. Navarro’s death,” according to a written release from the district attorney. In addition, Roozrokh is accused of administering Betadine, a topical antiseptic, into Navarro’s stomach.

Navarro died in 2006. No organs were recovered because he did not die within the 30 minutes after being removed from life support.