A Japan Organ Transplant Network executive offered an apology Monday to the family members of an organ donor in Kochi for the group's insufficient protection of their privacy.
Tatsuro Mori, a board member of the organization, the nation's sole entity licensed to provide organs from brain-dead donors for transplant, said the group and the Health and Welfare Ministry should have taken better measures to protect the family's privacy.
Mori's apology came after the nation's first heart, liver and kidney transplants from a brain-dead donor under the Organ Transplant Law were successfully carried out earlier in the day. The transplant law, which permits such operations from legally declared brain-dead donors, took effect in October 1997.
Mori partly criticized the news media for its coverage of the operations, saying simultaneous reporting would not necessarily mean securing transparency.