TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Changhua District Court has sentenced former deputy superintendent of Chung Shan Medical University Hospital Chen Yao-li (陳堯俐) to two years in prison, suspended for five years, for arranging organ transplants in China for nine Taiwanese patients.
The court found Chen guilty of illegally profiting NT$14.66 million (US$466,211) by coordinating liver and kidney transplants between 2016 and 2019. Health Minister Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) confirmed Wednesday that Chen’s medical license has been revoked, marking the first such case in Taiwan involving illegal organ transplant referrals, per CNA.
According to the ruling, Chen learned through his work on patients in need of liver or kidney transplants and referred them to a man surnamed Huang (黃) and a woman surnamed Lin (林) to arrange transplant services involving Taiwan and China.
The court said liver transplant packages ranged from NT$5 million to NT$7.5 million, while kidney transplants cost between NT$3 million and NT$3.5 million. Fees covered travel, lodging, airfare, medical expenses, brokerage fees, and security and nursing services in China.
Investigators found the cost of obtaining a liver was about NT$1.6 million, while kidneys cost roughly NT$800,000. Funds were allegedly transferred through underground channels via a man surnamed Hong (洪).
Although Chen did not accompany patients during surgeries, the court said he traveled to China to guide liver transplant procedures. He also instructed a nurse surnamed Hsieh (謝), who worked as his assistant in Taiwan, to travel to China to teach post-operative care, charging NT$200,000 per patient, per CNA.
In one case, Lin independently brokered a kidney transplant in China and later referred the patient back to Chen in Taiwan for follow-up treatment and anti-rejection medication. Prosecutors found that most transplant recipients survived only two to three years after surgery, while some died from transplant failure within a week of returning to Taiwan.
The court said Chen, a prominent figure in Taiwan’s organ transplant field, should have understood that the revised Human Organ Transplant Act prohibits commercial organ transplantation and is based on the principle of non-compensation.
Despite this, the court said Chen and his associates exploited patients in urgent need of transplants for personal gain, charging excessive fees and undermining principles of fairness and equality in organ donation.
Judges said they considered the defendants’ confessions, the repayment of illicit gains, and what they described as a momentary lapse in judgment when issuing a suspended sentence and an NT$5 million fine payable to the public treasury.
A prosecutor appealed the suspended sentence, but the court upheld the original verdict, ruling that the reasons for leniency were sufficiently justified.
