Free Republic

MIAMI - A 19-month-old Japanese boy who underwent a six-organ transplant is finally going home, months after the life-saving operation that could not be done in Japan because donated organs are not available there for young children. In his yellow T-shirt, Yosuke Ohashi squirmed and laughed and playfully banged his head on a conference table at the University of Miami School of Medicine, Pre-Transplant Office. "Before the operation, he was almost dying," Yukiho Ohashi said of his son. "He was suffering very severe jaundice," and other symptoms. Yosuke had a condition that limited his intestinal function and caused his liver...

MIAMI (AFP) - A Japanese baby is recovering well after receiving six organs from a donor baby, a procedure banned in Japan, his doctor revealed. Eleven-month-old Yosuke Ohashi quietly sucked a pacifier in his mother's arms at a press conference Friday where doctors announced his remarkable recovery from the eight-hour operation, performed on December 24. "The success of a little child like this ... could have an impact" on Japanese law, said Tomoaki Kato, the surgeon who performed the transplant at the University of Miami Jackson transplant center. In Japan, children under 15 are barred from donating organs. Japan legalized...