Researchers at the Australian National University have come to horrific conclusions, claiming that China recruited surgeons to execute prisoners by removing their hearts and lungs in order to proceed with transplants.
Investigators reviewed thousands of medical documents from China and uncovered secrets about the illegal organ trade. The research was published in the American Journal of Transplantation with the authors pointing out that the certified causes of death do not align with medical procedures reported at 56 hospitals across the country.
The study's authors, university doctoral researcher Matthew Robertson and Israeli heart transplant surgeon Jacob Lavi, said their research is the first comprehensive study to illustrate "the active role that transplant doctors in China played in the whole process."
"Doctors became executioners at the expense of the state."
According to the researchers, China has now changed its execution procedures by killing death row inmates not on a field firing squad, but in the operating room. "We found that doctors became executioners on behalf of the state and that the method of execution was to remove the heart," Robertson claims.
Such surgeries are considered highly profitable for the doctors and hospitals where they are performed. According to Robertson, the removal of the heart led to the deaths of the prisoners. The surgeries were performed on death row inmates as well as and on prisoners of conscience.
Researchers argue that the way in which brain death was diagnosed was deeply flawed and violated regulations on transplantation. According to the researchers, the donors did not have intravenous lines installed until moments before surgery, and many documents refer to acute brain death, suggesting that the organs were taken without a proper diagnosis of brain-dead donors.
71 suspicious deaths identified
The research analyzed 124,770 medical documents from official Chinese databases between 1980 and 2020. Using a custom algorithm to scan the reports, the researchers identified 71 suspicious heart removal deaths at 56 hospitals, with more than 300 doctors from across China participating in the surgeries.
The authors of the report estimate that the actual number of deaths from unethical surgical methods is much higher.
China denies being involved in such practices. However, analysts say this has been happening for more than three decades with other organs as part of a secret organ trade.
Chinese hospitals advertise that the waiting time for a transplant takes a few weeks, while in other countries, such as the US, the waiting time is months to years.
Source: Proto Thema
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