Couple handed suspended sentences for purchase of kidney for organ transplant

December 26, 2006

Suzuo Yamashita leaves his home in Uwajima in a wheelchair on Tuesday morning

UWAJIMA, Ehime -- An organ transplant recipient and his common-law wife were handed suspended prison sentences Tuesday after being convicted of violating a law banning the sale and purchase of organs, in a district court ruling that criticized the organ transplant system.

The two defendants, Suzuo Yamashita, 59, and his 60-year-old common-law wife Tomoko Matsushita, were both handed one-year prison sentences, suspended for three years in the ruling at the Uwajima branch of the Matsuyama District Court.

In handing down the ruling, the court said there were problems with the current system for kidney transplants.

"It was something that was going to happen. The court strongly hopes that laws will be established and guidelines introduced as soon as possible," it said.

The ruling was the first relating to the sale of kidneys since the Law on Organ Transplantation was introduced in 1997. Lawyers for the defendants do not plan to file an appeal against the ruling.

Citing problems with the current system of kidney transplants, the court said there were insufficient regulations compared to transplants from brain-dead people, meaning that decisions were left up to the morals of doctors and the parties involved.

"Self-awareness from doctors, which plays a part in stopping suspicious operations, is strongly required," the court said.

According to the ruling, Yamashita began to suffer kidney problems in about June 2005, and his doctor at Uwajima Tokushukai Hospital, 66-year-old Makoto Mannami, suggested that he get a kidney transplant.

However, Yamashita's family members refused to supply their own kidneys, so in August that year, Matsushita made an agreement with a 59-year-old female acquaintance to have her donate a kidney to him in return for payment, according to the ruling. In about November, both Yamashita and Matsushita allegedly gave the 59-year-old woman 300,000 yen and a car costing about 1.5 million yen as gifts. (Mainichi)

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This article posted January 21, 2007.