The history of Japanese lung transplantation: the unique pathway to establishing the program and its initial success.

ABSTRACT: Japan is a unique country in terms of organ transplantation. Despite the impressive progress in transplant medicine achieved during the late 20th century in many Western countries, Japan was unable to implement a program for organ transplants from brain-dead donors due to persistent public distrust regarding the ethical understanding of "brain death as human death". In 1997, the Japanese Organ Transplant Law was enacted, and organ transplantation from brain-dead donors was finally legalized. However, this law was strongly opposed by religious leaders, philosophers, politicians, and even medical personnel who did not accept the idea that brain death is human death, so transplant physicians had to start performing transplants in the face of strong social resistance. The Japanese National Lun

SUBMITTER: Shiraishi T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10586964 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature