Jurors heard lengthy opening arguments Monday in the felony case stemming from a 2006 failed organ harvest at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo.

Transplant surgeon Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, 34, is charged with willfully causing the death of Ruben Navarro, 26, in early February 2006 by prescribing excessive amounts of sedatives and painkillers to be administered to Navarro, a potential organ donor.

Prosecutor Karen Gray told the 12-member jury - plus five alternates - that the evidence in the unprecedented case will show Roozrokh ordered huge amounts of morphine and Ativan be given to Navarro to hasten his death so his organs could be procured.

It's against state law for a transplant doctor to direct care of a potential organ donor until the patient is declared dead by the attending physician in the operating room.

Roozrokh and a transplant team, including his supervisor, Dr. Atruro Martinez, were sent from San Francisco to San Luis Obispo late Feb. 3, 2006, to harvest Navarro's kidneys and liver.

Human organs are only viable for harvesting between 30 minutes and one hour after a person dies, and court records show Navarro, who was being kept alive by a ventilator, didn't die after being removed from life support. He died about eight hours after being taken off the ventilator.

Before the night of the planned organ harvest, Navarro's mother agreed for his kidneys and liver to be donated and for him to be removed from life support, according to witness testimony.

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When Navarro was admitted to Sierra Vista on Jan. 30 he was in a coma, weighed less than 75 pounds and his attending doctor determined that the 26-year-old, who suffered from a debilitating neurological disease since age 9, should not be considered a good candidate for organ donation.

Following almost four hours of opening arguments by prosecuting and defense attorneys, Dr. Eric Schultz took the stand as the first witness on Monday for the trial that is expected to last three months.

Schultz, who treated Navarro at the hospital, testified that he believed Navarro wouldn't die immediately after being removed from life support.

“I felt that the effort put into the attempt to harvest Ruben's organs would be fruitless, because I didn't believe he would die within the (organ harvest) time frame,” Schultz testified.

Navarro's death certificate lists the cause of death as natural, according to court records.

Roozrokh's attorney, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, argued during his opening statement that his client was only trying to ease any pain and anxiety Navarro may have felt when removed from life support by prescribing the morphine and Ativan.

He also argued the evidence will show Roozrokh made no effort to hasten Navarro's death, which was a decision made by his mother when she agreed to take her son off life support.

Schultz is expected to continue his testimony today at 8:30 a.m. The trial is being heard at the San Luis Obispo Veterans Hall, 801 Grand Ave.

November 4, 2008