Latest news with #transplant
The Sun
4 days ago
- Health
- The Sun
Inside China's sick plot to build empire of ‘organ harvesting centres' in five years… with ‘donors' already lined up
CHINA'S regime is significantly expanding its empire of organ harvesting centres in a twisted bid to make money, experts say. A plot to build six new sites in Xinjiang Uyghur by 2030 has stoked fears of forced organ removal, given staggeringly low donation rates in the region. 4 4 China's organ trade is already estimated to have a market value of $1 billion per year - which the Communist government wants to swell. A liver transplant, for example, can cost around £118,000 ($160k) in China - but with a much shorter waiting time compared to the rest of the world. This draws in not only recipients from inside the sprawling nation, but also unsuspecting international visitors who travel there for a transplant. China's regime has long been accused of orchestrating a non-consensual organ harvesting campaign against persecuted minorities. Prisoners are known to be killed specifically for the extraction of their organs. Experts say the primary victims of forced organ harvesting are those who follow Buddhist qigong and meditation practice of Falun Gong. They also believe that incarcerated Uyghurs fall victim - and new facilities are planned to open in their autonomous region of Xinjiang. At least six transplant institutions are tipped to open in the next five years, which campaigners say is hugely disproportionate to Xinjiang's low organ donation rate. Xinjiang is understood to have an organ donation rate of just 0.69 per cent per million people - significantly below the national average of 4.66 per cent. It has raised questions among experts who fear it could be part of a sickening plot to use detained Uyghurs as a living organ "donation" bank. Ughur detainees have reported forced blood tests, ultrasounds and organ-focused medical scans while in custody. Insiders say such procedures are consistent with chilling organ compatibility testing. Wendy Rogers, Chair of the International Advisory Board of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC), told the Sun: "The guise is that all the organs will come from voluntary donations. "But this is implausible given the reported rate of just 0.69 donors per million people in Xinjiang. "This massive expansion in Xinjiang - a region already under scrutiny for systematic repression - raises deeply troubling questions about where the organs will come from. 'There is simply no justification for such growth in transplant capacity given the region's official organ donation rate, which is far below the national average.' 'Plot to kill survivor' by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital) THE first known survivor of China's brutal organ harvesting scheme says the regime is plotting to kill him and stage his death as suicide. Cheng Peiming told how Xi Jinping 's communist party is on a mission to silence him after he helped expose its organ harvesting plot. He revealed how he was tortured and had parts of his liver and lung removed by Xi's stooges after being imprisoned for practicing the Falun Gong religion. Leaked insider information reveals China's security services and high-level Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders have taken notice - and have unleashed a plot to try and discredit, or even kill, Cheng. The CCP has said to "kill him directly and make it look like a suicide" if needed, according to bombshell information from an internal source. Cheng has faced several suspicious threats to his physical safety, including an early hours break-in of his home in New York in November. The intruder forced open the bolt on the garage door, left two doors open and left deep tyre marks in his backyard. Cheng believes the break-in was an attempt to intimidate and silence him after a series of other attacks. Up to 100,000 organ transplants are estimated to be carried out in China every year - with huge swathes harvested without consent. New facilities - which will triple the number in the region from three to nine - will offer heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas/ small intestine transplants. The Chinese government claimed back in 2015 that it had stopped using organs from executed prisoners - but no legal reforms were coupled with the announcement. Experts say sourcing organs from prisoners was never explicitly banned either. Rogers, who is a professor of Clinical Ethics, added: "We know that China is expanding its transplant capacity in Xinjiang, despite the relatively small population, low voluntary organ donation rates and existing capacity. "This doesn't make sense unless the hospitals involved are confident that there will be a steady supply of organs for transplantation. "In the absence of any other organ source, we believe that the organs will come from Uyghur and other minorities who are incarcerated in camps Xinjiang, and killed for their organs. "Organ transplantation generates a lot of income, so the motive may be financial." It comes after The Sun reported how China's government uses cash bribes and death threats in a warped intimidation crusade against critics. Leaked documents exposed a shocking escalation of attacks on whistleblowers and victims of a forced organ harvesting campaign orchestrated by the regime. Whistleblowers who attended a secret Chinese Communist Party (CCP) meeting have revealed information from inside Xi Jinping 's government. This and a dossier of evidence laid bare a multi-pronged scheme spearheaded by Xi to silence members of Falun Gong and other groups vocal about China's severe persecution. 4 4
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Footy star Richelle Cranston reveals the disgraceful comments she gets from fans as she waits desperately for a transplant to save her life
Footy star Richelle Cranston has revealed the awful comments and questions she receives online as she undergoes dialysis while hoping for a transplant that will end her long and draining battle with deadly kidney disease. The 35-year-old was forced to retire in 2023 after playing 60 AFLW matches for Melbourne, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs, and she gave her fans a sad parting message after her last game. 'My health has sort of deteriorated. It's been a really hard year - kidney disease,' she said when the Dogs were knocked out of the finals that November. 'I'll probably start dialysis in January [2024] so there was really no option for me [to keep playing]. 'I'll focus on my health - if anyone's got a kidney, hit me up!' Cranston is still on dialysis, and still waiting for the news that a donor has been found. As if life wasn't tough enough for Cranston, she also has to deal with ignorant and awful comments like this one from trolls on social media Her kidneys only had 12 per cent of normal function when she retired from footy and now she has to restrict herself to taking in no more than 1.5 litres of fluid a day, as well as spending eight hours hooked up to a dialysis machine by a catheter in her abdomen. And on top of all that, she is dealing with shocking and ignorant comments about her condition on social media. In one video she posted to Instagram, she reacts to a commenter who asked, 'If you killed it [your kidney] why should they give you another one?' 'So I didn't kill my kidney, I have a chronic illness, through no fault of my own,' she explained. 'Some people just get sick, and comments like this just prove we need more awareness.' In another clip, Cranston fires back at comments including, 'I'm not being rude here, but you've only got five years on dialysis avenue', 'All reversible, get into herbs and prayer', 'Try a grape diet, only grapes for three solid weeks', and 'It can be reversed don't get caught in that specialist syndrome'. She sums up her reaction to those with the simple reply, 'Advice about as useful as my kidneys.' When another commenter told her, 'You don't look sick,' the former Bulldogs star posted a video of her with her dialysis machine and the caption, 'Chronic illness isn't visible but it's always there.' The former Dogs, Cats and Demons star has somehow managed to keep working out in the gym (pictured) - but even that has been used against her online Cranston has been able to stay in great shape with regular gym workouts despite her health battle, but trolls have even found a way to use that to insult her, with one writing, 'You're on anavar [the steroid Anavir] or something stop effing lying omg.' 'So a few people think I'm on steroids, which is kind of a compliment, so thanks,' Cranston replied. 'I'm in kidney failure and literally need a machine to keep me alive, so not sure why I'd take steroids. 'I played professional sport for eight years, where I got tested for performance-enhancing drugs. 'And how is this the body of someone on steroids?' she concludes, pointing out the catheter emerging from her midriff. In another post, she reveals messages from people asking 'Are you a tran [trans]???' and 'What is your gender?' before replying, 'Strong women really do bring out the insecurity in some people.' There are roughly 1400 Australians waiting for a kidney transplant, with a median wait time of 2.2 years, according to Kidney Health Australia. However, Cranston could be on the list for far longer due to a quirk in her physical make-up. 'I try not to think about the transplant too much ... since my blood type is really rare,' she told News Corp. 'It would be great if I got a transplant but I don't want to get my hopes up.' Thankfully, the trolls with their shocking comments are only a very small portion of the followers she's attracted since starting to document her health battle online. She also has to deal with breathtaking comments about her gender 'Ninety five per cent of the feedback I get is really positive,' she said. 'It's a lot of people either with families who have got someone going through it, or just found out they have it and [are] looking for insight. 'There are definitely days when I think "this sucks", but I also don't want it to ruin my life. 'There are people suffering way more than I am.' Cranston thought the disease 'couldn't be that bad' when she was first diagnosed, because she 'felt great at the time'. But then she went blind in one eye at footy training as the condition increased her blood pressure so much it burst blood vessels behind her eye.
CBS News
22-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
12-year-old battling total kidney failure named Suffolk County sheriff for a day
A Long Island boy battling complete kidney failure became Suffolk County's top cop Tuesday. Wyatt Houppert, 12, is set to have surgery in less than a week. Doctors say it will save his life. Tuesday, he was the honorary Suffolk County Sheriff for the day. It's only the second time in the last eight years that the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department has done so. It comes with certain perks, like trying out any vehicle in the fleet, and "arresting" CBS News New York's John Dias. Houppert was born with only one kidney, and it recently began to fail. That means he needed dialysis four times a week to survive, until her could get a transplant. "it was already hard enough with the one kidney. Then now, since February, it was like getting hit by a Mack truck all of a sudden," his mother Devan said. The community rallied together and started up a GoFundMe for financial support. The boy's true hero, however, was family friend Dawn Rice, who is a perfect match for a kidney transplant. "An angel on earth. She acts like its no big deal and we are just like, are you kidding? This is amazing," Devan said. Rice said she's paying it forward. Two of her relatives needed transplants. "I know how important it is, to give a person another second chance at life," Rice said. "You don't need both kidneys. Share your spare." Rice's is the wife and sister of two correction officers with the sheriff's office. When word made its way to the department, they wanted to help Wyatt, too. "There is an additional support system that he knows that is available, to him and his family," Sheriff Errol Toulon, Jr. said. It's all meant to help Wyatt go from fearful to cheerful as he endures his next medical chapter. "All this positivity and love from everyone means a lot," Devan said. "We are very happy that he is able to have a second chance." Wyatt's transplant is set for Monday.
CNN
22-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
HHS says it will begin reforms of organ donation system after federal investigation finds ‘horrifying' problems
The US Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that it's undertaking an initiative to reform the country's organ donation system, after a federal investigation found that one organization in the Kentucky region began the process to take organs from people who may not have been dead. A House subcommittee is holding a hearing Tuesday on organ donation safety lapses and how procurement and transplant organizations intend to improve the system, to regain the trust of donors and their families. That trust is essential because the US organ donation system relies on people to volunteer to donate, often when they get a driver's license. As of 2022, about 170 million people in the US have signed up to donate their organs when they die, but there is always more demand for organs than what is available. Last year, there were more than 48,000 transplants in the US, but more than 103,000 people were on waiting lists. About 13 people in the United States die every day waiting for a transplant, according to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. HHS says the reform initiative was launched after an investigation by the Health Resources and Services Administration found problems with dozens of cases involving incomplete donations – when an organization started the process to take someone's organs but, for some reason, the donation never happened. According to a report on the federal investigation, as well as a memo prepared ahead of the House subcommittee hearing, the cases were managed by Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, a procurement organization that handles donations in Kentucky and parts of Ohio and West Virginia, which has merged with another group and is now called Network for Hope. Of the 351 cases in the investigation, more than 100 had 'concerning features, including 73 patients with neurological signs incompatible with organ donation,' HHS said in a news release Monday. At least 28 cases involved patients who may not have been deceased at the time the organ procurement process began, raising 'serious ethical and legal questions.' 'Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying,' HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in the release. 'The organ procurement organizations that coordinate access to transplants will be held accountable. The entire system must be fixed to ensure that every potential donor's life is treated with the sanctity it deserves.' Network for Hope has not responded to CNN's request for comment, but it says on its website that it is 'fully committed to transparency' and is in full compliance with all requirements of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which regulates organ donation organizations. 'Our goal has always been and will remain to meet the highest ethical and medical standards in donation and transplantation.' The investigation found patterns such as failures to follow professional best practices, to respect family wishes, to collaborate with a patient's primary medical team, and to recognize neurological function, suggesting 'organizational dysfunction and poor quality and safety assurance culture' in the Kentucky-area organization, according to a report from the Health Resources and Services Administration. The investigation also found that the Kentucky-area organization and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which oversees the local groups, failed to 'adequately recognize and respond to poor patient care and quality practices,' the report says. The organ procurement organization in Kentucky is one of 55 in the US, and since the federal review, the Health Resources and Services Administration said, it has received reports of 'similar patterns' of high-risk procurement practices at other organizations. The agency is mandating system-level changes to safeguard potential organ donors across the US and said the Kentucky-area organization needed to conduct a 'full root cause analysis of its failures to follow internal protocols.' It also said the organization must adopt a formal procedure to halt a donation process if there are safety concerns. Network for Hope says on its website: 'We are equally committed to addressing the recent guidance from the HRSA and we are already evaluating whether any updates to our current practices are needed.' The federal investigation was launched after one case in Kentucky came to light during a congressional hearing in September. In 2021, 33-year-old TJ Hoover was hospitalized after a drug overdose. He woke up in the operating room to find people shaving his chest, bathing his body in surgical solution and talking about harvesting his organs. Earlier that day, a doctor had declared him brain-dead, according to his medical records, even though he seemed to be reacting to stimuli, making eye contact and shaking his head. Former staffers of the organ procurement organization who were involved in Hoover's case raised concerns that he wasn't brain-dead and should not have been on the operating table. The concerns were ignored, according to the federal investigation. Staff told CNN that the procedure to take Hoover's organs stopped after a surgeon saw his reaction to stimuli. The Kentucky procurement organization told CNN last fall that it had reviewed the case and 'remains confident that accepted practices and approved protocols were followed.' Hoover now lives with his sister in Richmond, Kentucky, and is undergoing extensive physical therapy and treatment, much of which is shared on TikTok in an effort to inspire others. Congress has been investigating the nation's organ donation system for years. Tuesday's hearing is intended to determine what lessons could be learned from the investigation, what changes are necessary to make the system better and what challenges lie ahead. One issue involves organs procured from patients who aren't brain-dead. Although most donations in the US come from people who are brain-dead, there are other circumstances in which a patient may become an organ donor. It's called donation after circulatory death, or DCD, and it has become much more common in recent years, although some experts question the ethics of the practice. A donation after brain death is defined by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network as 'the organ recovery process that may occur following death by irreversible cessation of cerebral and brain stem function; characterized by absence of electrical activity in the brain, blood flow to the brain, and brain function as determined by clinical assessment of responses.' DCD, by comparison, is when 'you've got somebody with essentially devastating illness or injury, and their family's decided to withdraw life support,' Dr. Robert Cannon, an associate professor of surgery and surgical director of the liver transplant program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told CNN last year after Hoover's case came to light. Cannon was not involved in Hoover's case but was familiar with it because he testified about lapses in the organ procurement system at the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing where the case came to light in September. 'Certainly, we have potential DCD donors with lots of reflexes,' Cannon said. 'But as long as the family knows this is what's happening with their loved one, this process is considered ethical and standard.'
CNN
22-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
HHS says it will begin reforms of organ donation system after federal investigation finds ‘horrifying' problems
Federal agenciesFacebookTweetLink Follow The US Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that it's undertaking an initiative to reform the country's organ donation system, after a federal investigation found that one organization in the Kentucky region began the process to take organs from people who may not have been dead. A House subcommittee is holding a hearing Tuesday on organ donation safety lapses and how procurement and transplant organizations intend to improve the system, to regain the trust of donors and their families. That trust is essential because the US organ donation system relies on people to volunteer to donate, often when they get a driver's license. As of 2022, about 170 million people in the US have signed up to donate their organs when they die, but there is always more demand for organs than what is available. Last year, there were more than 48,000 transplants in the US, but more than 103,000 people were on waiting lists. About 13 people in the United States die every day waiting for a transplant, according to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. HHS says the reform initiative was launched after an investigation by the Health Resources and Services Administration found problems with dozens of cases involving incomplete donations – when an organization started the process to take someone's organs but, for some reason, the donation never happened. According to a report on the federal investigation, as well as a memo prepared ahead of the House subcommittee hearing, the cases were managed by Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, a procurement organization that handles donations in Kentucky and parts of Ohio and West Virginia, which has merged with another group and is now called Network for Hope. Of the 351 cases in the investigation, more than 100 had 'concerning features, including 73 patients with neurological signs incompatible with organ donation,' HHS said in a news release Monday. At least 28 cases involved patients who may not have been deceased at the time the organ procurement process began, raising 'serious ethical and legal questions.' 'Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying,' HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in the release. 'The organ procurement organizations that coordinate access to transplants will be held accountable. The entire system must be fixed to ensure that every potential donor's life is treated with the sanctity it deserves.' Network for Hope has not responded to CNN's request for comment, but it says on its website that it is 'fully committed to transparency' and is in full compliance with all requirements of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which regulates organ donation organizations. 'Our goal has always been and will remain to meet the highest ethical and medical standards in donation and transplantation.' The investigation found patterns such as failures to follow professional best practices, to respect family wishes, to collaborate with a patient's primary medical team, and to recognize neurological function, suggesting 'organizational dysfunction and poor quality and safety assurance culture' in the Kentucky-area organization, according to a report from the Health Resources and Services Administration. The investigation also found that the Kentucky-area organization and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which oversees the local groups, failed to 'adequately recognize and respond to poor patient care and quality practices,' the report says. The organ procurement organization in Kentucky is one of 55 in the US, and since the federal review, the Health Resources and Services Administration said, it has received reports of 'similar patterns' of high-risk procurement practices at other organizations. The agency is mandating system-level changes to safeguard potential organ donors across the US and said the Kentucky-area organization needed to conduct a 'full root cause analysis of its failures to follow internal protocols.' It also said the organization must adopt a formal procedure to halt a donation process if there are safety concerns. Network for Hope says on its website: 'We are equally committed to addressing the recent guidance from the HRSA and we are already evaluating whether any updates to our current practices are needed.' The federal investigation was launched after one case in Kentucky came to light during a congressional hearing in September. In 2021, 33-year-old TJ Hoover was hospitalized after a drug overdose. He woke up in the operating room to find people shaving his chest, bathing his body in surgical solution and talking about harvesting his organs. Earlier that day, a doctor had declared him brain-dead, according to his medical records, even though he seemed to be reacting to stimuli, making eye contact and shaking his head. Former staffers of the organ procurement organization who were involved in Hoover's case raised concerns that he wasn't brain-dead and should not have been on the operating table. The concerns were ignored, according to the federal investigation. Staff told CNN that the procedure to take Hoover's organs stopped after a surgeon saw his reaction to stimuli. The Kentucky procurement organization told CNN last fall that it had reviewed the case and 'remains confident that accepted practices and approved protocols were followed.' Hoover now lives with his sister in Richmond, Kentucky, and is undergoing extensive physical therapy and treatment, much of which is shared on TikTok in an effort to inspire others. Congress has been investigating the nation's organ donation system for years. Tuesday's hearing is intended to determine what lessons could be learned from the investigation, what changes are necessary to make the system better and what challenges lie ahead. One issue involves organs procured from patients who aren't brain-dead. Although most donations in the US come from people who are brain-dead, there are other circumstances in which a patient may become an organ donor. It's called donation after circulatory death, or DCD, and it has become much more common in recent years, although some experts question the ethics of the practice. A donation after brain death is defined by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network as 'the organ recovery process that may occur following death by irreversible cessation of cerebral and brain stem function; characterized by absence of electrical activity in the brain, blood flow to the brain, and brain function as determined by clinical assessment of responses.' DCD, by comparison, is when 'you've got somebody with essentially devastating illness or injury, and their family's decided to withdraw life support,' Dr. Robert Cannon, an associate professor of surgery and surgical director of the liver transplant program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told CNN last year after Hoover's case came to light. Cannon was not involved in Hoover's case but was familiar with it because he testified about lapses in the organ procurement system at the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing where the case came to light in September. 'Certainly, we have potential DCD donors with lots of reflexes,' Cannon said. 'But as long as the family knows this is what's happening with their loved one, this process is considered ethical and standard.'
