Money talks, money kills -- the economics of transplantation in Japan and China

Abstract

Japan and China have long resisted the Western trend of organ transplantation from brain-dead patients, based on a 'Confucian' respect for integrity of ancestors' bodies. While their general publics continue to harbor grave doubts about such practices, their medical and political elites are hastening towards the road of organ-harvesting and organ-marketing, largely for economic reasons. This report illustrates the ways that economics is motivating brain-death legislation in Japan and criminal executions in China.