Free Republic

SHANGHAI (Kyodo) Two Japanese nationals in their 50s received heart transplants between 2001 and 2004 at a Shanghai hospital whose organs mainly come from death-row inmates, sources at a Taiwanese company that arranged the procedures said Thursday. Japan was seemingly unaware of the cases, as a survey released March 9 by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said there were no cases of Japanese receiving heart transplants in Asia outside of Japan. Ethical and medical concerns have often been raised regarding organ transplants in China over issues that include the use of organs of prisoners on death row and uncertain...

How a handful of progressive foundations and quasi-government agencies set out to provide equitable distribution of health care, and in the process, created a duty to die and a culture of death. And how they hope to secure their legacy . . . Featuring the collaboration of: the Hastings Center, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), George Soros's Project on Death in America (PDIA), Institute of Medicine (IOM), AARP, Choice in Dying, and a number of prestigious universities, to name only a few.

A 13-year-old boy declared brain dead after the spread of an infection following a dental procedure was taken off a ventilator on Thursday, and his heart and other organs stopped soon after, a hospital spokeswoman said. The mechanical ventilator for Teron Francis was turned off at the request of his family shortly before 5 p.m., Montefiore Children's Hospital spokeswoman Pamela Adkins said. The boy's heart and other organs stopped by 5:05 p.m. ``Our hearts go out to the family, and we hope they will be allowed to find peace,'' the hospital said in a statement. Teron was declared brain dead...

AMSTERDAM, March 28 (Reuters) - The fight in the United States over the life of the severely brain damaged women Terri Schiavo has sparked intense interest in the Netherlands where euthanasia has been legal for three decades. The case that has pitted the woman's husband against her parents has repeatedly been on the front of Dutch newspapers in recent weeks and is leading television news bulletins. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the case and most people stopped in the streets of Amsterdam on Monday seemed to support Schiavo's husband's right to choose to end her life. Before 1973...