Taiwan: Death row inmate may soon get consent to donate kidney

[Clark]

http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1724542

Death row inmate may soon get consent to donate kidney

A death row inmate who has asked to donate his kidney to his seriously ill sister may soon be given a green light by the prison's Agency of Corrections to have the organ surgically removed. The 48-year-old death row inmate Cheng Chin-wen filed a petition three months ago to serve as a living organ donor to his sister, who suffers from a life-threatening condition and receives daily kidney dialysis. If approved, it would mark the first such case in Taiwan. The Taipei Detention Center, where Cheng is currently jailed, said the Agency of Corrections seems inclined to approve Cheng's case. Because Cheng's sister is getting treatment in Changhua County, which is far away from the prison, the agency has suggested, however, that the kidney transplant be conducted at Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in New Taipei, under the monitoring of prison guards. Cheng was sentenced to death in June this year for murdering two people to whom he owed money. He dumped their bodies near a coastline. According to Deputy Justice Minister Chen Shou-huang, Justice Minister Tseng Yung-fu asked the corrections agency early Monday to consider details related to the case and said the possibility "should not be ruled against simply because it is unprecedented." The corrections agency responded that it had agreed to allow Cheng to apply to be a living organ donor on humanitarian grounds and said the operation could proceed after it and the Ministry of Justice gave their final approval. (By Sherry Tang and Ann Chen)