Shocking news. An anesthesiologist working at a plastic surgery center in Beverly Hills, CA has been charged with murder of his patient. Dr. Stephen Kyosung Kim was arrested for murder following the death of his patient, Dr. Mark Greenspan. Dr. Greenspan was undergoing surgery when the anesthesiologist reportedly gave him an overdose of Demerol. The patient suffered a cardiac arrest and died. What's even worse is that Dr. Kim was found to be injecting himself with narcotics during the procedure. Thus he was under the influence of drugs while he should have been watching over his patient.
News of physicians being charged with murder for their patients' deaths are extremely rare. They are usually accused of malpractice or negligence. For example, the anesthesiologist present when Joan Rivers died in New York was sued for malpractice, not murder.
Overdosing a patient and causing him to die is a pretty serious complication to begin with. But to also be under the influence of drugs at the same time makes this case almost indefensible. Dr. Kim has pleaded not guilty to his murder charge. We'll see if more details come out later at his trial.
I've been trying to find out what happened to Dr. Kim to no avail. Anyone know?
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