Son is accused of going invasive:
HOUSTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) – A Texas man is charged with cutting a pacemaker out of his dead mother’s chest with a kitchen knife as part of a long-running dispute with a medical company, police said on Monday.
Harris County sheriff’s deputies arrested James A. Donalson, 59, on Sunday after paramedics responding to the death of his mother discovered a large incision in her chest, Sgt. Bruce Williams said.
“The son, her caretaker, made the comment, ‘I removed the pacemaker,'” Williams said. “It’s my understanding there’s been some kind of ongoing dispute between the son, insurance companies and the doctor since this pacemaker was implanted in 1995.”
Donalson told reporters he wanted to keep the pacemaker as evidence of possible wrongdoing by its supplier. Investigators also want it to help determine the circumstances of the woman’s death.
Donalson was charged with tampering with evidence, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and jailed in lieu of $5,000 bond.
