A 55-year-old medical doctor from Tokyo's Edogawa Ward who was suffering from kidney disease received a kidney from a living donor in July 2010. He is suspected of having paid money to two gangsters at different times to find a man whom he could adopt so he would qualify to donate a kidney to him.
The Japan Society for Transplantation's ethical guideline states that a living donor in principle must be a relative of a recipient. This case clearly undermines the spirit of the organ transplant guideline, which aims to make transplants available to anyone regardless of their financial status or personal connections.
The doctor was arrested June 23 on suspicion of having asked a gangster, who was also arrested, to find a kidney donor, and of having given him ¥10 million. The doctor adopted a 48-year-old man in January 2010 in an apparent attempt to receive one of his kidneys.