TY - JOUR
T1 - Transplant Medicine in China
T2 - Need for Transparency and International Scrutiny Remains
AU - Trey, T.
AU - Sharif, A.
AU - Schwarz, A.
AU - Fiatarone Singh, M.
AU - Lavee, J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors. American Journal of Transplantation published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society of Transplant Surgeons
PY - 2016/11/1
Y1 - 2016/11/1
N2 - Previous publications have described unethical organ procurement procedures in the People's Republic of China. International awareness and condemnation contributed to the announcement abolishing the procurement of organs from executed prisoners starting from January 2015. Eighteen months after the announcement, and aligned with the upcoming International Congress of the Transplantation Society in Hong Kong, this paper revisits the topic and discusses whether the declared reform has indeed been implemented. China has neither addressed nor included in the reform a pledge to end the procurement of organs from prisoners of conscience, nor has the government initiated any legislative amendments. Recent reports have discussed an implausible discrepancy of officially reported steady annual transplant numbers and a steep expansion of the transplant infrastructure in China. This paper expresses the viewpoint that, in the current context, it is not possible to verify the veracity of the announced changes, and it thus remains premature to include China as an ethical partner in the international transplant community. Until we have independent and objective evidence of a complete cessation of unethical organ procurement from prisoners, the medical community has a professional responsibility to maintain the academic embargo on Chinese transplant professionals.
AB - Previous publications have described unethical organ procurement procedures in the People's Republic of China. International awareness and condemnation contributed to the announcement abolishing the procurement of organs from executed prisoners starting from January 2015. Eighteen months after the announcement, and aligned with the upcoming International Congress of the Transplantation Society in Hong Kong, this paper revisits the topic and discusses whether the declared reform has indeed been implemented. China has neither addressed nor included in the reform a pledge to end the procurement of organs from prisoners of conscience, nor has the government initiated any legislative amendments. Recent reports have discussed an implausible discrepancy of officially reported steady annual transplant numbers and a steep expansion of the transplant infrastructure in China. This paper expresses the viewpoint that, in the current context, it is not possible to verify the veracity of the announced changes, and it thus remains premature to include China as an ethical partner in the international transplant community. Until we have independent and objective evidence of a complete cessation of unethical organ procurement from prisoners, the medical community has a professional responsibility to maintain the academic embargo on Chinese transplant professionals.
KW - editorial/personal viewpoint
KW - ethics
KW - ethics and public policy
KW - organ allocation
KW - organ procurement
KW - organ procurement and allocation
KW - organ transplantation in general
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992451602&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ajt.14014
DO - 10.1111/ajt.14014
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C2 - 27532896
AN - SCOPUS:84992451602
VL - 16
SP - 3115
EP - 3120
JO - American Journal of Transplantation
JF - American Journal of Transplantation
SN - 1600-6135
IS - 11
ER -