"Brain-dead kids to give organs"

[Mulboyne]

This headline reads more like WaiWai than Yomiuri...
LDP to submit bill to let brain-dead kids give organs
The Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on Brain Death, Life Ethics and Organ Transplants reached agreement Tuesday to submit a bill to revise the Organ Transplants Law to the current ordinary Diet session to authorize organ donations from brain-dead patients under 15 years old. The bill would legalize organ donations from children in that age bracket if their families provide consent. An exception to this would be if a child stated his of her intention not to donate organs while alive.

[Taro Toporific]

Hmmm. This breakthrough to going to wreck Japan's organ donation program (which already has been cursed by Japanese fear of spirits and used things).

[INDENT]
[SIZE="5"]
Reborn[/SIZE]

We have always been told there is no recovery from persistent vegetative state - doctors can only make a sufferer's last days as painless as possible. But is that really the truth? Across three continents, severely brain-damaged patients are awake and talking after taking ... a sleeping pill. And no one is more baffled than the GP who made the breakthrough. Steve Boggan witnesses these 'strange and wonderful' rebirths
Tuesday September 12, 2006
The Guardian

The hospital ward sister, Lucy Hughes, was periodically concerned that involuntary spasms in Louis's left arm, that resulted in him tearing at his mattress, might be a sign that deep inside he might be uncomfortable. In 1999, five years after Louis's accident, she suggested to Sienie that the family's GP, Dr Wally Nel, be asked to prescribe a sedative. Nel prescribed Stilnox, the brand name in South Africa for zolpidem. "I crushed it up and gave it to him in a bottle with a soft drink," Sienie recalls. "He couldn't swallow properly then, but I helped him and sat at his bedside. After about 25 minutes, I heard him making a sound like 'mmm'. He hadn't made a sound for five years.

"Then he turned his head in my direction. I said, 'Louis, can you hear me?' And he said, 'Yes.' I said, 'Say hello, Louis', and he said, 'Hello, mummy.' I couldn't believe it. I just cried and cried."
...more....[/INDENT]

[Greji]

Hmmm. This breakthrough to going to wreck Japan's organ donation program (which already has been cursed by Japanese fear of spirits and used things).]

I'm not sure that will have much of an impact on Japan. I have a couple of bosses who have reaced the pinnacle of vegatative state at their desks. They would not move if you gave them a sedative, or for that matter, a shot of acid in their ocha. They are the original non-standing nails and will remain in that state of suspended animation until they are wheeled out for retirement and the Ministry carts in their replacements.

Some things in the big rice bowl will never change!

[GomiGirl]

Well I hear that China has an interesting policy... Allegations reported by Canada's CBC of organ harvesting of Falun Gong political prisoners

I have seen a few reports on this and it is hard to know what to believe. But the National Kidney Association and BBC have the story too.

These stories came out earlier this year but to date there haven't been many follow-ups. I didn't report it here as it wasn't Japan Related. Apologies if others have already posted stuff on this. If true, all hell could break loose on China as it has been compared to operations in Nazi Concentration Camps.