0000000000210962
AUTHOR
Charl Els
Organ transplantation in China: concerns remain
On Dec 3, 2014, Jiefu Huang, Director of the China Organ Donation and Transplant Committee and former Vice Minister of Health, announced that, from Jan 1, 2015, only voluntarily donated organs would be used for transplantation. Worldwide media reported that China would stop use of executed prisoners as an organ source. The Editorial1 in The Lancet interpreted the announcement in a similar manner; unfortunately, this interpretation does not reflect the reality.
Determination of Death in Execution by Lethal Injection in China.
Abstract:Since 1997, execution in China has been increasingly performed by lethal injection. The current criteria for determination of death for execution by lethal injection (cessation of heartbeat, cessation of respiration, and dilated pupils) neither conform to current medical science nor to any standard of medical ethics. In practice, death is pronounced in China within tens of seconds after starting the lethal injection. At this stage, however, neither the common criteria for cardiopulmonary death (irreversible cessation of heartbeat and breathing) nor that of brain death (irreversible cessation of brain functions) have been met. To declare a still-living person dead is incompatible wi…