China Anticipates End of Prisoner Execution for Organ Transplants
by Sophia Golec
Posted on May 22, 2013
Australian university, Sydney University, is criticized for awarding Dr Huang Jiefu an honorary title. Dr Jiefu ran the Chinese organ transplant program infamous for using organs from executed prisoners. Jiefu is a polarizing figure in the medical community. On the one hand, he is a highly successful liver transplant surgeon who also helped establish China’s public donations system.
On the other hand, as the leader of the transplant program, Jiefu is largely responsible for the use of prisoners’ organs for transplantation. Jiefu defended himself during a press conference, emphasizing that consent was always obtained from the prisoner or family, and that he respects the donor’s life. However medical groups question the strength of consent given under a death sentence. Reports from a former surgeon give a harrowing account of the transplantation process to which prisoners supposedly consent.
Former surgeon Enver Tohti escaped from China after he was forced to perform the surgery on a prisoner. Tohti was told to operate as soon as the prisoner was shot. “I guess that was deliberately to make this prisoner not die immediately to allow sometimes for us to remove that organ when he is still alive,” Tohti told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Despite the criticism, Jiefu continues to support his past actions, and anticipates a future where prison donations will no longer be used to satiate the growing need for organs in China.
Source: Stephen McDonell for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
