Taiwan: First live organ donation by condemned prisoner allowed

[Clark]

http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1767162

First live organ donation by condemned prisoner allowed

Taiwan approved Wednesday its first live organ donation by a condemned criminal, who will donate his kidney to his sister, said Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in Taipei. Cheng Chin-wen, who was sentenced to death in June for robbery and manslaughter, was allowed to donate a kidney to his sister after the hospital's medical ethics committee gave the green light, said the hospital in New Taipei City. The case had previously been approved by the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health (DOH). The surgery will be arranged after further discussion with the Cheng family and the Taipei Detention Center, where Cheng has been imprisoned since 2004, the hospital said. Cheng, in his late 40s, said he wanted to donate the kidney to his sister, who has to undergo kidney dialysis every day, before his execution because he was worried it might be too late for his sister. "My sister does her duties. She takes good care of her husband and children. She exemplifies the traditional woman. I respect my sister very much. I'm willing to give my life to her, not to mention a kidney," Cheng has said. The detention center said Cheng was at ease recently and felt quite optimistic about the upcoming transplant. In 2004, the Keelung native, strangled two debt collectors to death with his friends and buried the bodies in the woods near the coast in Keelung. (By Chen Chih-chung and Kendra Lin)

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http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?ID=201111280040&Type=aLIV

Death-row organ donor wants to save more people

A death-row inmate, who had one of his kidneys removed Monday to give to his ailing sister, said in a letter he wrote before the operation that he wished to use his remaining organs to save more people.

The inmate, named Cheng Chin-wen, wrote that he would offer whatever virtue came from the organ donation to the people he murdered.

The 100-plus Chinese-character letter was made public by Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying after the operation at the New Taipei-based Far Eastern Memorial Hospital.

In the letter, Cheng expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), the Department of Health (DOH) and the public for giving him "a chance to show remorse" and to apologize to the families of the people he murdered.

Cheng is believed to be the first ever living death-row organ donor in Taiwan's history. He decided to give his sister one of his healthy kidneys after the Supreme Court in June finalized his death sentence for strangling two debt collectors to death in 2004 and burying their bodies in the woods in Keelung.

The request was approved by the hospital's medical ethics committee on Nov. 23 after passing reviews by the MOJ and DOH.

The operation, which began at 11:20 a.m. at the hospital, was successful and concluded at 2:20 p.m., an hour earlier than scheduled, the surgeon in charge Chen Kuo-hsin said at a press conference.

The donor was recovering well, the doctor said, while the sister who underwent the organ transplant was still being closely observed given the risk of organ rejection.

"Cheng's kidneys are quite healthy," observed Chen, who said the removal of the kidney would not affect the patient's daily life.

He expected that Cheng would be discharged from the hospital in 5-7 days.

Far Eastern Memorial Hospital President Chu Shu-hsun said, "no matter what Cheng Chin-wen has done, the donation of his organ is to be applauded."

Shih Chung-liang, the DOH's director-general in charge of medical affairs, said the department did not encourage the lobbying of death-row inmates to have them donate their organs after being executed because of potential ethical disputes that could arise.

The DOH believes, however, that the potential for disputes is eliminated if death row inmates voluntarily agree to donate organs while they are alive.

Such an act "would be the equivalent of a donation of an organ by a healthy person," the official said.

By Chen Chih-chung, Chen Ching-fang, and Elizabeth Hsu