TOKYO -- The arrest of the head of a Japanese nonprofit for allegedly facilitating an unapproved organ transplant overseas underscores long-standing problems with the donation system in a country that ranks only 44th in the world in transplants.
Japan in 1997 began allowing transplantation of organs from brain-dead donors, not just those whose hearts had stopped. But because of the uniquely strict requirements -- both written consent from the donor and permission from the family -- this did little to expand donation.
