Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting

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DAFOH - Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting

DAFOH [[1]] is a medical non-profit organization that has been founded by medical doctors. DAFOH reflects the wish in the medical community to value ethical standards in medicine. In their Mission Statement DAFOH refers to the Hippocratic Oath Hippocratic oath, Declaration of Helsinki Declaration of Helsinki and other declarations of ethics in medicine. The organization is based in Washington, D.C. DAFOH aims to inform medical doctors and patients who are in need of transplantation. DAFOH has ben invited to present their data at various forums [[2]].

Aside from scattered forms of organ trafficking in countries like India and Philippines, China has recently drawn attention to fast increasing transplantation figures due to its practice of harvesting organs from executed prisoners. In 2001 Dr. Wang Guoqi testified about these practices in a congressional hearing [[3]]. In 2005 the Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu admitted the practice of organ harvesting from executed prisoners [[4]].

In 2006 DAFOH was alarmed by reports and testimonies that organs were not only harvested from executed prisoners but also forcibly harvested from living people [[5]] [[6]]. According to eyewitnesses this unethical practice started in 2001. An investigation by co-authors David Kilgour and David Matas [7] came to the conclusion that the allegations are true. In particular phone interviews with medical doctors from 17 hospitals in China unveiled that organs are mainly harvested from adherents of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong [[8]]. The Kilgour & Matas Report concluded that more than 40,000 unexplained organs were used for transplantation between 2001 and 2006. On websites Chinese hospitals offered any type of organs for transplantation within 2-4 weeks. Due to a lacking organ donation program and a discrepancy in the figures it suggests that there is a living pool of unwilling donors recruited by dissidents and adherents of the banned Falun Gong movement. Manfred Nowak, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Torture stated that the transplant figures increased dramatically after the persecution of Falun Gong [[9]]. The forms of organ procurement in China are in violation to ethical standards in medicine.

Due to a shortage of transplant organs worldwide, more patients are inclined to travel abroad for organs. The organ procurement practices in China are unknown to many doctors and patients. DAFOH strives to bring awareness about this unethical medical practice, to inform patients and to stop this unethical practice in China.


[edit] References

Amnesty International on Death Penalty in China [[10]]

[edit] External Links