Nonconsenting prisoners are the source of many organ transplantations in China(jtcvs.org)
jtcvs.org
Nonconsenting prisoners are the source of many organ transplantations in China
https://www.jtcvs.org/article/S0022-5223(21)01375-1/fulltext?rss=yes
11 comments
Western yellow-peril propaganda, not backed up by any evidence.
Back in med school one of my professors, chinese origin, held a seminar about his research how china uses non-consenting prisoners to harvest organs. Since then i lost a bit of faith in humanity.
I think the main concern should be using death penalty in a first place.
It’s interesting how scientific journals are emerging as a source of information and ethical discussion (as they were originally) after being seen as transcripts of any scientifically relevant observation with a p-value below .05
More interesting is the tone of that article: not discussing, or looking at arguments but plainly stating that a crime is being committed at scale and condemning it the clearest way it can: publishing detailed evidence and stating a new editorial policy. The editorial policy feels strangely inadequate to the for-profit genocide that they describe but that’s the extend of the authority of the committee.
More interesting is the tone of that article: not discussing, or looking at arguments but plainly stating that a crime is being committed at scale and condemning it the clearest way it can: publishing detailed evidence and stating a new editorial policy. The editorial policy feels strangely inadequate to the for-profit genocide that they describe but that’s the extend of the authority of the committee.
It is my understanding that US prisoners are not able to donate blood. The prison population is considered to have too high a level of drug use and other red flags to be a safe source for blood donation. So even if we set aside the entire human rights/consent issue, this seems like a dangerous medical practice for those receiving the organs.
The sort of person sitting in US prisons is very different from those in Chinese ones.
I wonder if western media will bash communist china for this egregious behavior
From a collectivist point of view it makes total sense to overrule the individual rights not to donate organs for the "greater good"
From a collectivist point of view it makes total sense to overrule the individual rights not to donate organs for the "greater good"
Just label them 'donation-hesitant'.
I have a few questions on this:
- If the family of the prisoner consents, then would it be ok?
- If they are going to do it anyway.Wouldn't be better that they share the research with the world?
I understand that it has to do with human dignity and rights, etc. But I always assumed that here in the US you get your organs taken off(I'm aware of the mark on the DL) anyway, when you die in an accident, etc. Do the family of the deceased checks the body to make sure all the organs are there? Just asking, I don't know a lot about ethics related to medicine.
I understand that it has to do with human dignity and rights, etc. But I always assumed that here in the US you get your organs taken off(I'm aware of the mark on the DL) anyway, when you die in an accident, etc. Do the family of the deceased checks the body to make sure all the organs are there? Just asking, I don't know a lot about ethics related to medicine.
No, it wouldn't be OK by international governing standards. Ethical Rules are very strict and explicit prisoner "consent" is one of these areas. The other thing is that the donor numbers china is presenting to the medical community don't make statistically much sense except if you have a huge population of non-consenting prisoners. Which is also the reason why china is banned from many international donor programs.
Considering that a number of Western countries have moved to "deemed consent" when it comes to organ harvesting I don't think that the absence of explicit consent is the sticking point. Rather, I think the ethical issue is ignoring explicit refusal.
yeah, makes sense.
From what I remember from Human Subjects training in my grad school days, the prison environment is considered to be so coercive that it pretty much makes "informed consent" unobtainable. While some studies are still done on prisoners, the bar to getting such a study approved is very high (or at least, is supposed to be very high).
There have been indeed cases where organs were harvested without permission (not just from prisoners, either). The difference is that in the United States (and almost all other countries) this is considered to be a crime, and you go to jail if you get caught doing it.
There have been indeed cases where organs were harvested without permission (not just from prisoners, either). The difference is that in the United States (and almost all other countries) this is considered to be a crime, and you go to jail if you get caught doing it.
Yeah, I was just wondering if hospitals actually have a way of getting away with this, as families never check for their loved ones body.
> If they are going to do it anyway. Wouldn't be better that they share the research with the world?
There’s precedent already that these types of things are inhumane and the data shouldn’t be used strictly based on the ethics of it. One example includes experiments done by Nazi Germany in the 1940s[0].
[0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation
There’s precedent already that these types of things are inhumane and the data shouldn’t be used strictly based on the ethics of it. One example includes experiments done by Nazi Germany in the 1940s[0].
[0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation
I see, makes sense, I knew about the experiments conducted by Germans in the concentration camps, I thought we brought them home afterwards. I understand.
Personally, I think that the ethical aspects of harvesting organs from people sentenced to death are open to discussion.
If society finds it acceptable to put people to death for a number of serious crimes then it may also be felt acceptable to 'get some good out of it' by saving others' lives.
In any case, one aspect is that this may provide an incentive to sentence people to death because organs are needed...
If society finds it acceptable to put people to death for a number of serious crimes then it may also be felt acceptable to 'get some good out of it' by saving others' lives.
In any case, one aspect is that this may provide an incentive to sentence people to death because organs are needed...
In the future portrayed in Larry Niven's "Known Space" science fiction stories, the demand for transplanted organs became so large that even jaywalking became a capital crime.
a country can decide to impose the death penalty for many reasons that would objectionable for people outside of that country. Plenty of examples in the 20th century.
Agreed, but I don't think this is relevant.
The death sentence part is indeed the potentially scandalous part, and the biggest ethical and moral dilemma, either in general or because if the offense that carries it depending on people's opinions. The (lesser, IMHO) ethical issue here arises after that although one aspect is the incentive this creates, as already mentioned.
The death sentence part is indeed the potentially scandalous part, and the biggest ethical and moral dilemma, either in general or because if the offense that carries it depending on people's opinions. The (lesser, IMHO) ethical issue here arises after that although one aspect is the incentive this creates, as already mentioned.
For anybody who thinks that prisoners perhaps deserve to have their organs harvested (a comment to that effect popped up and then promptly disappeared here), there are at least two things worth considering:
1. As is clearly stated in the article, this includes political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, such as (but not at all limited to) Falun Gong.
2. Even if the state had the best of intentions (and it clearly doesn't), this creates a very perverse and dangerous set of incentives, wherein the state materially benefits from treating prisoners as less-than-human.
1. As is clearly stated in the article, this includes political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, such as (but not at all limited to) Falun Gong.
2. Even if the state had the best of intentions (and it clearly doesn't), this creates a very perverse and dangerous set of incentives, wherein the state materially benefits from treating prisoners as less-than-human.
> Even if the state had the best of intentions (and it clearly doesn't), this creates a very perverse and dangerous set of incentives, wherein the state materially benefits from treating prisoners as less-than-human.
Yeah, this is like the incentive problem with prison labor (and the 13th Amendment loophole) in the US, except that it creates an incentive for mass killing rather than mass long-term incarceration.
Yeah, this is like the incentive problem with prison labor (and the 13th Amendment loophole) in the US, except that it creates an incentive for mass killing rather than mass long-term incarceration.
The comment is still there, enable "showdead" in the settings to see it.
Once you can harvest organs from prisoners who committed outrageous crimes, the number of those prisoners will magically increase.
“Be the match”-like programs would be ill advised if you are a rare match due to the risk of powerful political actors using imprisonment to extract from you.
Nice dystopia.
Nice dystopia.