The Nation - News from March 7, 1985

A photographer who was accidentally injected with a toxic preservative during surgery last week was pronounced dead after his life-support systems were disconnected at his family’s request, a hospital official said in Miami. Bob East, 64, who had been declared brain dead, died shortly after his respirator was unplugged. “The family was there,” said Jackson Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Zondra Thompkins. East lapsed into a coma Friday after doctors injected a formaldehyde-like chemical into his spine, believing that it was spinal fluid.