A Ghoulish Story of Dependent Adult Abuse

Randy Walton

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This Halloween a San Luis Obispo transplant surgeon is accused of dependent adult abuse after allegedly prescribing excessive painkillers and sedatives to expedite the death of a 25-year-old patient with the hope of harvesting his organs.

Prosecutors say Dr. Hootan Roozrokh ordered massive doses of drugs to speed the death of 25-year-old Ruben Navarro last year. Navarro was taken to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center last winter after suffering cardiac arrest. He was later taken off a ventilator and prepared for organ donation. However, his kidneys and liver were never harvested because he did not die within the time when the organs would have been viable.

Dr. Roozokh has pleaded not guilty to the allegations, and his lawyer M. Gerald Schwartzbach says his client did nothing wrong.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Nursing Home and Elder Abuse.