Patient 'was drugged for organs'

LOS ANGELES: A surgeon in California was yesterday charged with prescribing excessive drugs to a comatose, disabled patient to hasten his death and allow the harvest of his organs for transplantation.

It is the first such criminal case against a transplant doctor in the US, the San Luis Obispo County district attorney's office said.

more here

Terrible. I don't know if others have heard of the rumours associated with organ transplants/donation but this is the first criminal case. I wonder how many more happen without being detected?

It seems the patient was going to die anyway, but to hasten the death to give the organs to someone else... unethical. I just wonder who got the patients organs and then I consider, if they know how they got them.

Spose for the recipients of the organs, perhaps they wouldn't care?




[edit on 3-8-2007 by Thurisaz]

The dehumanization of our fellow people is a terrible thing. When a person becomes a dollar, or a person becomes their organs. Even if this person was going to die speeding it up is just completely horrid.

Ever since I watched a film or something where a bloke wake up in a hotel bath full of ice minus his kidneys (don't ask what it was I was pretty young) Its been one of my worst nightmares to have a sinister doctor harvest my organs without my consent ~ so I developed a plan, ever since I was about 16 I have waged a constant war with my internal organs through smoking / drinking and well, other things. Now I doubt any one would want my kidneys.

Talk about cutting my nose to spite my face!

P.s. I'm not against organ donation at all, just done the right way. I hold a motorcycle license, and bikers make very good doners cos the likely cause of death in a bike accident is spinal or head injuries.

I'd be very interested to see the Toxicology report from this case if it's ever presented to the public. It seems that the physician administered him with doses of Morphine and Lorazepam (according to sources), which would not be all that uncommon considering his disability. Lorazepam is a medication associated with psychoactive drug family called Benzodiazepines which typically act as sedatives and in particular are used to treat violent seizures. Overdose of this medication is rare, but as with any medication taken in excess it can be fatal if more than enough is ingested. I would be more than a little curious to know just how much of this medication was found in the victim at the time of death.

Morphine, of course, has been around for quite awhile and is a fairly common medication that most everyone knows about. It is extremely narcotic and its main active ingredient is Opium which works to relieve a number of symptoms associated with the nervous system. Overdose of Morphine is not all that uncommon as it is a form of Heroin that can become extremely poisonous in the human body. However, large amounts would need to be administered in order for fatal results to occur.

Does anyone have links to the Toxicology reports from the victim in this case? There have been some known drug interactions between Narcotics such as Morphine and drugs of the Benzodiazephine class, which could account for a high toxicity level if both are being taken in conjunction with one another. If it is determined that low levels (or expected levels) of these medications were given then the Physician may leave this case with some credibility left intact. However, as usual, I cannot make conclusions until we have all the facts, and knowing exact amounts of these medications found in the victims system is a good place to start.

On another note, organ harvesting is generally considered to be a myth in modern times. For a Physician or Surgeon to get away with such a thing in the modern medical profession would be nothing short of astounding. That is, while there have been known reports of this happening in the past, it has been overblown by the media and entertainment industries to make people think it is common practice...ie. waking up in Indonesia or some place and finding your Liver or a Kidney to be missing. It is sensationalism at its best.

[edit on 6-8-2007 by Jazzerman]

This sort of thing does not surprise me at all. It resurfaces in the news every few years. This is exactly why I'm not an organ donor.

It is a difficult issue.

Just recently a family friend was granted a lung transplant. She died a month later from critical rejection. It was very difficult for the family to accept. Perhaps I am heartless but I felt at least she was given another chance and someone had to die in order for her to get that.

I feel if you make the choice to donate your organs when you die, that is your choice but when a Doctor speeds the process up because you made that choice, then there is a problem.

How would we cope with a Doctor saying "your loved one is braindead and will never regain consciouness, could you turn off the respirator as there is someone who we can save in the next room if you turn if off now?"

I check my driver's license every half hour everyday to make sure that someone hasn't filled out the donor information for me! It's the only way to be sure I don't want to wake up in a seedy hotel room covered in ice with a couple of missing organs. Hold on, i'm checking my license again. Whew, i'm okay still for the moment.

[edit on 8-8-2007 by carnival_of_souls2047]

Originally posted by carnival_of_souls2047
It's the only way to be sure I don't want to wake up in a seedy hotel room covered in ice with a couple of missing organs.

I thought the bath with ice in a hotel room was an urban legend?
This is the second time in this thread it has been mentioned.

:puzz:

Sadly it's based on fact that some people are harvested for organs illegally in other countries for the black market. Truly a frightening concept.

Originally posted by Thurisaz

Originally posted by carnival_of_souls2047
It's the only way to be sure I don't want to wake up in a seedy hotel room covered in ice with a couple of missing organs.

I thought the bath with ice in a hotel room was an urban legend?
This is the second time in this thread it has been mentioned.

:puzz:

Indeed. I thought it was a legend too. Considering donors and recipients have to tissue matched, it's not like you can just club someone over the head and pinch their kidneys, or liver.

After you've got them, what do you do with them? You can't just then stick them in any person.

Then you have the huge amount of anti-rejection drugs you have to take, where do you get them from without your GP asking "Why do you need these drugs, by the way?"

I might add that those who don't consent to organ transplants, in my book, are selfish, horrid people..

Why on earth would you not want someone else to live after you die? It's not as if YOU need the organs, is it?

I take this stance as my little bro was born with a kidney defect and had to wait 7 years for a transplant. If people were less selfish and pig ignorant, then there wouldn't be a "black market" (if there is even one) or the long wait's, during which many people will die needlessly.

well, I just googled this:

organs bath ice hotel

and the majority of the links said 'urban legend/myth' but then I read this one:

Every year thousands die because they do not get an organ transplant but in some countries organs are being stolen. Heard about the man who wakes up In an ice-filled bath with a fresh scar on his side and a note thanking him for donating a kidney? Don't worry, it's just a myth! (isn't it?)

Black Market Organs

There are some pretty frightening articles.

China has a quite a thing going on with the executed prisoners...