Six people including several doctors have been jailed in China for illegally harvesting organs from accident victims. The group had tricked the families of the deceased into thinking they were making official organ donations.
Between 2017 and 2018 they removed the livers and kidneys from 11 people at a hospital in the Anhui province. China is grappling with a huge shortage of organs and has struggled to meet demand through public donations.
According to local reports, the trafficking ring included four high-ranking doctors who worked in organ procurement in hospitals. Local media said they would target car crash victims or patients who suffered from cerebral hemorrhage at the Huaiyuan County People’s Hospital in Anhui.
The hospital’s head of the intensive care unit, Yang Suxun, approached a patient’s family members and ask if they would consent to donating their loved one’s organs.
The family members would sign what would later turn out to be fake consent forms.
