Chinese convicts donate organs for transplant

Hong Kong patients needing kidney transplants are able to receive them from mainland China if they can afford it. Patients who need kidneys can receive transplants in China from prisoners in death penalty cases, according to a report in the Oct. 19 edition of the Hong Kong Standard.

"If the bodies of executed prisoners are not claimed by family members, their kidneys can be donated [within the medically allowable time frame]," says treasurer Robert Yiu. There are more than 1,000 patients in Hong Kong waiting for kidney transplants, according to the article.