Curbs on Organ Transplants Eased

With a new law allowing organ transplants, the nation joins the rest of the industrialized world in recognizing brain death, but cultural attitudes, a lack of donors and a scarcity of medical experience will continue to place major organ transplants off limits for many Japanese. Under the old law, death came at the moment the heart stopped beating. But at that point, it is too late to use many organs for transplants. The new law allows doctors to declare brain death, but families can veto the diagnosis.