A local hospital in southern China city of Guangzhou has
rejected requests from two families who are eager to save their
uraemia annoyed relatives by donating kidneys to the patient in the
other family.
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The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College has
informed the families of the denial and persuaded the patients to
turn to other hospitals, reported Xiaoxiang Morning Herald.
He Yiwen, a 17-year-old high school student from Linli County of
central Henan Province, was diagnosed with uraemia last year. And
He Zhigang, a 39-year-old man from the province's Changde city, has
been suffering from the illness since this May.
Both of them need live kidney transplantation to extend their
lives, but neither could find a suitable source from their own
family members.
To everyone's surprise, the patients’ survivals got connected
when they found the kidney of a member in the other family could
well match with their own blood types and physical conditions.
But cold water was thrown on both families when they came up
with the idea of cross kidney donation to the hospital whose ethic
committee later vetoed the operation for fear of offending the
country's regulation on human organ transplantation.
According to the bill that took effect on May 1, 2007, live
transplantations can only carried out between individuals having
kindred relations or within a family, a measure set to avoid
illegal organ transfer business.
An earlier feedback from the Guangdong provincial health
watchdog also boosted the hospital to refuse the surgery. An
official with the administration said in an interview that they
would not break the rule for the case.
But the decision was blamed ruthless for the patients by Zhou
Xiaohua, head of a local kidney disease association in Changde. He
argued a similar case was successfully conducted at a hospital in
Henan province in July last year after the regulation came into
effect.
Debates were also arisen between ethical and organ transplanting
professionals.
A medical ethical expert from the Guangzhou Medical College, Li
Xingmin, supported the operation, explaining it doesn’t run against
the national constitution. He also suggested changes in the
regulation to give a green light to such urgent but irregular
cases.
But on the other hand, a transplanting expert Chen Zhonghua
warned complicated troubles may come out if the operation failed or
the families are unsatisfied with the kidney donated the other
side.
(CRI January 3, 2008)