Chinese surgeons executing death-row prisoners by removing hearts, claims study
The authors of the study, published in the American Journal of Transplantation, identified 71 Chinese medical journal publications dated between 1980 and 2015 describing cases in which the removal of the heart appeared to be the cause of the prisoner’s death.
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FollowA study published in an American medical journal has claimed that surgeons working at state-run civilian and military hospitals in China executed numerous prisoners over a period of decades by removing their hearts for transplant purposes.
The shocking report published by the Australian National University (ANU) on Tuesday claimed that the Chinese physicians turned into “executioners on behalf of the state” and conducted illegal organ harvesting on death row prisoners that were ‘still alive.’
The authors of the study, published in the American Journal of Transplantation, identified 71 Chinese medical journal publications dated between 1980 and 2015 describing cases in which the removal of the heart appeared to be the cause of the prisoner’s death.
In these cases, the prisoners were supposedly braindead before surgeons removed their hearts. “Braindead” is a classification referring to someone who will never regain consciousness or start breathing on their own again without a ventilator.
Chinese surgeons were enlisted by the state to kill prisoners using organ transplant surgery, breaching the dead donor rule, according to the study published in the American Journal of Transplantation that outlined the Chinese military hospital records.
“Prisoners were supposedly brain dead - a classification given to someone who will never regain consciousness or start breathing on their own again without a ventilator - prior to the surgeries taking place,” it revealed. Chinese state and military-affiliated hospitals chose to execute prisoners because organ harvesting is extremely profitable, a claim supported by human rights researchers worldwide.
“While we don't know exactly how these prisoners end up on the operating table, we can speculate there are multiple troubling scenarios as to how this happens,” Study co-author Ph.D. researcher Matthew Robertson said on Tuesday.
“These include a bullet to the prisoner’s head before being immediately rushed to hospital or a drug injection that paralyzes the prisoner,” he added.
In these cases, they say, the removal of heart during organ procurement must have been the cause of the donor’s death.
“This abhorrent conduct is a grievous violation of medical ethics, human rights and basic human dignity,” said Arthur Caplan, head of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University's (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine, who reviewed the findings.
“Killing for parts cannot be accepted as a part of the field of transplantation by governments, NGOs, health care providers, scientific journals or the general public. The evidence is plain and I hope the requisite action will follow.”
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