John Ronald Brown

John Ronald Brown (July 14, 1922 – May 16, 2010) was a United States surgeon who was convicted of second-degree murder after the death of a 79-year-old patient in his care.

Early life

The son of a physician, Dr. Brown was born in 1922. He did well in school, graduating from high school by the age of 16. When drafted by the US Army during World War II, he scored exceptionally highly on the Army General Classification Test, with the result that the Army sent him to medical school.

Brown graduated from University of Utah School of Medicine in 1947, and worked as a general practitioner for almost two decades. However, after almost losing a patient during a thyroidectomy, he decided to undertake formal surgical training.

Despite excelling in the written aspects of certification for the American Board of Plastic Surgery, he failed the oral assessment (blaming his 'domineering' father).

Later medical career