Medical instruments typically used during surgery. Photo from Pixabay.
An anesthesiologist pleaded not guilty Thursday to a murder charge stemming from the death of a 71-year-old plastic surgery patient in Beverly Hills.
Stephen Kyosung Kim, 53, could face up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted in the Sept. 26 death of the patient, Dr. Mark Greenspan, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
While working at the Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery Center in Beverly Hills, Kim administered medicine to sedate Greenspan before surgery. He is accused of injecting himself with drugs during the procedure, then giving Greenspan a lethal dose of Demerol while the patient was in a recovery room, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Greenspan went into cardiac arrest and died soon afterward, prosecutors said.
Kim was arrested Wednesday by Beverly Hills police and released on a $1 million bond, jail records show.
He is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Jan. 25, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial.
–City News Service
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