JCP: Consensus through careful discussion must precede any decision to amend Organ Transplant Law

Japan Press Weekly

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JCP: Consensus through careful discussion must precede any decision to amend Organ Transplant Law

The Japanese Communist Party on June 18 published the following statement regarding a House of Representatives vote on the four bills to amend the Organ Transplant Law:

The Japanese Communist Party reiterates its opposition to any premature vote on the proposed bills.

The Organ Transport Law has a critical bearing on lives and deaths. While it is important to pave a way to save the lives of patients who can be saved only by organ transplants, we need to deal with the matter with the greatest prudence. If this law is to be amended, it is necessary to share the understanding of the issue involved by the medical establishment, hold a national discussion as well as parliamentary discussions, and build a national consensus.

However, the House of Representatives Health, Labor and Welfare Committee spent only 8 hours to discuss the four proposed bills. What is more, the committee put the bills to a vote in the House of Representatives Plenary Session after issuing an "interim report" without even summing up the opinions expressed at the committee meeting. Hasty vote-taking without thoroughly examining the bills will make it difficult for the public to understand the matter and reach an informed consensus on the issue of organ transplants.

Regarding the four proposals: Plans A, B, C, and D, we are making public what we have discussed so far.

In Japan, no national consensus has been formed regarding brain death as human death. Regarding norms to judge a child's brain death, the medical community has not reached a conclusion yet. There is no national consensus regarding whether it is appropriate to conclude that a person is dead because the brain ceased to function or to go ahead with the removal of an organ based on the consent of the person's family members even if the organ donor had not expressed the intention to donate organs.

With none of the four plans having obtained a national consensus, the JCP cannot agree with any of them.

Believing that it is possible to achieve a consensus through national discussions, the JCP suspends its decision and abstains from voting.

- Akahata, June 19, 2009