taken from the Cincinnati Enquirer, front section - page 2 'In Brief' 10/05/04:
Homicide ruled after team removes organs
Denver - A coroner said Monday that two hospitals allowed vital organs to be removed from a man before they had proven he was brain dead, and declared the death a homocide.
The cause of William Rardin's death was "removal of his internal organs by an organ recovery team", Montrose County Coroner Mark Young said.
Young said Montrose Memorial Hospital in Montrose and St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction did not follow "accepted medical standards" or meet the states guidelines in determining that Rardin, 31, was brain dead after he shot himself last month.
His heart, liver, pancreas and two kidneys were transplanted into waiting patients.
Officials with St. Mary's and the organization that coordinates organ donation in Colorado and Wyoming insisted surgeons did nothing wrong.
