Organ Transplant Negligence

Health authorities in Taiwan are probing a case of medical negligence that led to five patients receiving organs from a HIV carrier donor.

"The National Taiwan University Hospital is required to come up with a detailed report before the end of Tuesday," Wang Je-chau, a spokesman for the Department of Health, told AFP, referring to the hospital where four of the five transplant operations were performed on Thursday.

About Transplantation
Since the early times, the novel idea of transplanting tissues and other body parts from one organism to the other has captured the imagination of successive generations.

The family of a 38-year-old man, surnamed Chiu, decided to donate his organs after he fell to his death in northern Hsinchu city last week.

Medical technicians performing standard blood tests found that Chiu was HIV positive before his liver, lungs and kidneys were transplanted.

But the message was wrongly relayed and doctors were given the green light for the operations.

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Chiu's family said they were not aware that he was an HIV carrier.

ORGAN DONATION
Why is organ donation regarded as crisis with a cure? Read more to find out. View slide show on organ donation.

Doctors at the two hospitals have prescribed preventive medicines for the five recipients.

Local media said the responsible staff, if found guilty, may face a jail term of up to 10 years and the National Taiwan University Hospital may be barred from doing similar operations for a year.

Source-AFP

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