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Analysis of China's Deceased Organ Donation Data Casts Doubt on Organ Transplant Reform

posted by martyb on Monday November 18 2019, @10:32PM   Printer-friendly

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Analysis of official deceased organ donation data casts doubt on the credibility of China's organ transplant reform:

Background

Since 2010 the People's Republic of China has been engaged in an effort to reform its system of organ transplantation by developing a voluntary organ donation and allocation infrastructure. This has required a shift in the procurement of organs sourced from China's prison and security apparatus to hospital-based voluntary donors declared dead by neurological and/or circulatory criteria. Chinese officials announced that from January 1, 2015, hospital-based donors would be the sole source of organs. This paper examines the availability, transparency, integrity, and consistency of China's official transplant data.

[...] Results

COTRS [(China Organ Transplant Response System )] data conforms almost precisely to a mathematical formula (which first appeared to be a general quadratic, but with further confirmatory data was discovered to be a simpler one-parameter quadratic) while Central Red Cross data mirrors it, albeit imperfectly. The analysis of both datasets suggests human-directed data manufacture and manipulation. Contradictory, implausible, or anomalous data artefacts were found in five provincial datasets, suggesting that these data may have been manipulated to enforce conformity with central quotas. A number of the distinctive features of China's current organ procurement and allocation system are discussed, including apparent misclassification of nonvoluntary donors as voluntary.

Conclusion

A variety of evidence points to what the authors believe can only be plausibly explained by systematic falsification and manipulation of official organ transplant datasets in China. Some apparently nonvoluntary donors also appear to be misclassified as voluntary. This takes place alongside genuine voluntary organ transplant activity, which is often incentivized by large cash payments. These findings are relevant for international interactions with China's organ transplantation system.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-019-0406-6

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @10:55PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @10:55PM (#921726)

    Yeah, like data sets aren't manufactured in the USA. I'm looking at you, FCC.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @11:07PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @11:07PM (#921732)

    Blsck??? Trying to get around some overly sensitive anti-njigger filters?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @11:09PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @11:09PM (#921733)

      Invalid form key: r9VTWJQHRD

      Chances are, you're behind a firewall or proxy, or clicked the Back button to accidentally reuse a form. Please try again. If the problem persists, and all other options have been tried, contact the site administrator.

      Hey site administrator...
      Fix this shit

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday November 18 2019, @11:56PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 18 2019, @11:56PM (#921751) Journal

    Pot calling kettle blsck. [...] Yeah, like data sets aren't manufactured in the USA. I'm looking at you, FCC.

    Well, guess what buttercup, the FCC had nothing to do with the study. It's a bunch of Australian scientists using data from China.

    When a related story [soylentnews.org] about this surfaced almost half a year ago.

    [AC:] Because innocent until proven guilty?

    That's utterly foolish for two reasons. First, the Chinese government, like any other government in the world, has no such right. Governments readily can commit abuses on a scale no one else can and hide it pretty well too. As noted before, we have all the ingredients for a continuing and well-concealed industry of involuntary donation and murder. If you leave food out, you will get vermin. It's foolish to assume that it won't continue and expand to exploit any out-group, like Falun Gong and various minorities, that is ostracized by the Chinese government. There's too much value in it, even if they aren't choosing to make massive profits in the process.

    I see also in that story the usual fallacies and evasions about China (including a gem about "liberating" Tibet from itself - apparently the Tibetans still need liberating because the Chinese haven't left yet). My guess is we'll see them recycled again in the discussion here.