After deliberating for three days, a jury found Dr. Hootan Roozrokh not guilty. The surgeon was charged with dependent adult abuse with regard to the death of Reuben Navarro at Sierra Vista Medical Center in San Luis Obispo.

34-year-old Roozrokh, an Iranian émigré and naturalized American, was charged with prescribing too much painkillers to Ruben Navarro, 26, when he passed away in February 2006, in order to hasten his death. The victim had a debilitating neurological disease and was in a coma after experiencing a heart attack.

The surgeon was accused of trying to make a donation after cardiac death, which entails removing a patient from life support before extracting his or her organs. Even though most donations involve patients who are declared brain dead, a rising number of demands for organs led to a growth in this type of cardiac procedures, which imply prompt retrieval of the heart after a patient dies.

In court, Roozrokh testified in his own defense, saying that, when prescribing the medications, he tried to make sure the dying patient wouldn’t suffer when being withdrawn from life support, and not to speed his death.

"He did everything he possibly could do to avoid Reuben Navarro's suffering," said M. Gerald Swartzbach, the doctor’s attorney.

Dr. Hootan C. Roozrokh is said to be the first doctor accused of such actions in the United States.