Organ Transplantation Laws in Asian Countries: A Comparative Study

Legal tools are a necessity in organ procurement to allow transplant surgeons to remove organs from potential sources. In some countries the organ transplantation law may not only increase the organ retrieval rate, but may also decrease the number of transplantations. Reassessing the impact of organ transplantation laws on the application of transplant technology is therefore an emerging issue. This article discusses organ transplantation laws in eight Asian countries: Japan, Korea, India, Iran, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Turkey. The organ transplantation laws of each of these countries were compared in terms of how they address the issues of definition of death; donor consent; the role of family and surrogate decision making; age limitation for organ donation; organ trade and donor compensation; and the organ procurement model.