Death-row organ donor wants to save more people

[okarol]

Death-row organ donor wants to save more people
2011/11/28 22:46:24
      
Taipei, Nov. 28 (CNA) 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

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