Orange County prosecutors have charged an OB-GYN with a felony count of involuntary manslaughter after an infant died following a circumcision he performed.
Prosecutors allege that Dr. Hong-An Jan injected a synthetic opioid into Charles Wang, a two-day-old newborn, during the procedure on Feb. 27, 2024, at his private Garden Grove clinic.
In a court declaration, Irvine Police Department Detective Brian Feeling claimed that Jan’s actions were “negligent and preventable.”
Jan pleaded not guilty on Feb. 19 to a felony involuntary manslaughter charge. He is scheduled to appear in court on May 1 for a pre-trial hearing.
Kate Corrigan, a defense attorney representing Jan, declined to comment.
Yiqi Wang and Hongyu Lu, the newborn’s parents, are also suing the obstetrician in civil court for wrongful death, medical malpractice and fraud.
A toxicology report that followed the infant’s death revealed no traces of Xylocaine, a local anesthetic reported to have been used during the circumcision. High levels of Demerol, a Schedule II narcotic painkiller, were detected instead.
An Orange County coroner’s report updated Charles’ cause of death to bronchopneumonia due to acute Demerol intoxication.
Building off the criminal case, an attorney for the Wangs filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court that names Jan and South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana as defendants.
According to the suit, Lu gave birth at the hospital under Jan’s guidance and care. The next day, Jan suggested circumcising the baby right away. His parents agreed with Jan’s professional opinion.
After the circumcision at Jan’s private Garden Grove clinic, the new parents noticed troubling symptoms. They reported over the phone to Jan that the newborn had refused feedings, appeared lethargic and was abnormally unresponsive.
Charles’ parents claimed that Jan assured them the symptoms were “normal and not cause for concern.”
Still worried about their infant’s health, the couple brought him to Jan’s Garden Grove clinic later that day.
“Jan only ‘looked’ at [Charles] and reassured [his parents] that these symptoms were ‘normal’ post-circumcision reactions and advised them to return home,” the suit claims. “He did not take any blood samples or order any laboratory studies, even though he observed the symptoms … symptomatic of opiate substances.”
In the criminal case, Feeling interviewed Jan about the followup visit. Jan told the detective that Charles appeared “very quiet” and sleepy — an assessment made without a physical examination.
The physician sent the family home.
The baby was found cold to the touch, not breathing and unresponsive the next day around 3 a.m., according to the lawsuit.
The parents rushed their son to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s emergency room, where doctors pronounced him dead an hour later.
Shortly after the baby died, the Irvine Police Department and the county coroner‘s office initiated an investigation.
The South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana where Dr. Jan delivered Wang two years ago.
(James Carbone/James Carbone)
Infant deaths from circumcisions are a rare but real risk of the procedure. A study done in 2010 estimated more than 100 deaths a year are related to neonatal circumcisions, which the author argued is “not medically necessary in almost all instances.”
It’s a set of circumstances that J. Stevens Svoboda, an attorney and advocate, believes only compounds the tragedy in cases like that involving the Wang family. Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, a group Svoboda founded, advocates against routine infant male circumcision as an “outmoded” practice lacking valid justification.
“It’s hard to estimate the deaths per year, because all this data isn’t published,” said Svoboda, ARC’s executive director. “Any infant who dies, it’s a huge tragedy. It’s so much worse when the death happened because of a procedure there was no reason for.”
The Wangs, who are seeking damages, were unaware of toxicology findings that followed in 2024 until prosecutors filed a felony charge against Jan this year. They allege in the suit that Jan concealed the use of Demerol in medical records and misled them by stating he only used Lidocaine, another name for Xylocaine.
During the criminal investigation, Feeling asked Jan if he had Demerol in his Garden Grove clinic. Jan affirmed that he did but denied the possibility of mixing up the narcotic with Xylocaine and accidentally injecting it.
Jan, who graduated from National Taiwan University College of Medicine in 1967, had his medical license suspended by court order on Feb. 19, 2026, pending the outcome of the criminal case, a restriction that was a condition of bail.
The Medical Board of California, an agency that licenses and disciplines doctors, sent a March 2 notice about the suspension. But the two years Jan was allowed to practice between the criminal investigation, charge and license suspension has rankled patient safety advocates like Marian Hollingsworth.
“Advocates are pushing for flag notification to be put on a doctor’s profile if they’re being investigated for an egregious harm, like a patient death,” she said. “A patient is supposed to know all the risks and benefits of any treatment or procedure. The doctor’s background should be included in that. If you don’t know your doctor is under criminal investigation or medical board investigation, then you can’t give full consent.”