Organ donation can go pear-shaped in the US, too, as the recently. According to a report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, early last year a doctor at a California hospital, Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, pumped huge doses of morphine and a sedative into a retarded 26-year-old, Ruben Navarro, who had refused to die on time. At least six people, including his treating doctor, looked on and did nothing. Worse still, the doctor, Hootan Roozrokh, a transplant surgeon, was not authorised either to direct Mr Navarro’s treatment or to administer his medications. Eventually, the surgeon gave up and Mr Navarro was returned to intensive care, where he died the next morning. His organs were not retrieved. Federal regulators are looking into the case.

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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