Four Guatemalan doctors accused of organ trafficking

UPGRADE DAY

Four Guatemalan doctors were charged Friday with organ trafficking, suspected of having removed a kidney from a patient without her consent, we learned from a judicial source.

The four The men — two urologists, a surgeon and a pathologist — who had been arrested hours earlier in the capital, have been released on parole until their first trial hearing, scheduled for March 14.

Estas son las de: Mario Rene Bolaños Porras, Dany Ferlandi Chocooj Coy y Ángel David Valdez Vargas, sindicados por el delito de disposición ilegal de órganos o tejidos humanos. pic.twitter.com/meewZAVfa8

— MP de Guatemala (@MPguatemala) March 3, 2023

The four doctors are “involved in the illegal removal of a kidney from a patient who was prescribed the removal of the adrenal gland to justify the intervention”, according to the accusation.

The victim, a woman in her sixties, realized after the operation that it was in fact the kidney which had was removed and filed a complaint in May 2022.

The removal of the organ took place in the capital, but no further details can be provided “at this stage of the procedure”, argued Public Prosecutor's Office spokesman Moises Ortiz asked about local press reports that the operation took place in a private clinic.

< p>The investigation collected various testimonies and searches were carried out.

According to the head of the prosecution against human trafficking, Alexander Colop, this is the first time that evidence of illegal organ harvesting is established in Guatemala.