An Orange County obstetrician is facing both a criminal case and a wrongful-death lawsuit after a two-day-old infant died following a circumcision last year. The rare and devastating outcome has already led a judge to temporarily bar the physician from practicing while the cases move through Orange County courts.
Prosecutors allege that Dr. Hong-An Jan injected a synthetic opioid into newborn Charles Wang during a circumcision at Jan’s private Garden Grove clinic on Feb. 27, 2024, and have charged him with felony involuntary manslaughter. A toxicology report reportedly detected high levels of Demerol, and the Orange County coroner later updated the cause of death to bronchopneumonia due to acute Demerol intoxication. Jan pleaded not guilty on Feb. 19 and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on May 1, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A Superior Court order dated Feb. 19, 2026, prohibits Jan from practicing medicine in California during the pendency of the criminal case, as a condition of his bail. That order was filed in Orange County Superior Court and is on file with the Medical Board of California. The written order explicitly bars Jan from practicing in the state while the criminal matter proceeds.
Parents Say Doctor Dismissed Newborn’s Warning Signs
The infant’s parents, Yiqi Wang and Hongyu Lu, say they agreed to an early circumcision, then quickly grew alarmed when their son refused feedings, appeared lethargic, and became abnormally unresponsive. According to their court complaint, Jan told them those symptoms were “normal and not cause for concern” and did not take blood samples or order laboratory studies during a follow-up visit…