A Japanese hospital said Monday it has performed a living kidney transplant between a same-sex couple, a procedure typically limited to patients with a family member donor.
While there have been previous cases of living kidney transplants being conducted between same-sex couples, it is believed to be the first time such a procedure has been publicly disclosed in Japan, according to Kyoto University Hospital.
Takashi Kobayashi, a professor at the university who performed the surgery, said that the case could "become a valuable precedent for patients who have given up (on getting a living transplant) because they are a sexual minority."
"We hope this can become a beacon of hope for patients who have given up on getting a transplant," the same-sex couple said in a statement.
The ethics guidelines of the Japan Society for Transplantation limit living donors to spouses, blood relatives within six degrees of consanguinity, and in-laws within three. Non-related donors must be approved by the medical institution's ethics committee on an individual basis.
Marriage equality remains unrecognized by the Japanese government.
Given that the donor in this case was considered a third party, the hospital's ethics committee conducted a thorough review before proceeding.
Documentation, such as results from psychiatric evaluations confirming the voluntary nature of the donation and the couple's partnership oath, were submitted to the ethics committee. The procedure was also approved by the Japan Society for Transplantation's ethics committee in January.
"I believe the declaration under the partnership system became strong evidence to confirm free will and prove that their relationship was equivalent to that of a married couple," said Kobayashi.
According to the hospital, the couple had been living together since March 2019, with their partnership oath accepted by the Kyoto city government in August 2023.
The woman was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure around 2022 and required dialysis starting in January this year. The surgery was performed in May, with both individuals in good condition and already returned to daily life.
While there are ethical concerns over performing surgery on a healthy donor, living organ transplants are more common in Japan than transplants from a brain-dead or cardiac-arrest donor, according to the Japan Society for Transplantation.
© KYODO
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garypen
That's crazy. I just googled it, and see that in Japan, there is less than one deceased donor per million people! (In the US, it's almost 37 per million.) Are they worried there'll be slightly fewer ashes among the bones the relatives pick at after the cremation?
wallace
Yesterday during a hospital visit I watched many patients going into the room for their dialysis treatment.
starpunk
My own straight (and married) sister got a revolutionary kidney and pancreas transplant from a dead person (unrelated) and because of that she is no longer a diabetic. She had been a Type 1 diabetic since age 3 and no longer is one at all now.
It can happen.
Mr Kipling
Shocking! Shocking that only family members can live donate.
Fighto!
Lifetime?
You do realize it is exceptionally common for marriages to NOT last a "lifetime", and end in divorce, right? Around 40% of marriages in Japan end in divorce. And none of us have any right to judge - especially those Christian types.
Anyway, this is a good story - here's hoping such llive donations become much more widespread in Japan - as well as many more brain-dead transplants. So many lives are saved.
Ricky Kaminski13
Committees conducting a thorough review to see if they are capable of changing or bending the rules on common sense and humanitarian grounds. No doubt it was literally a life and death decision too.
This couple can thank god that the committee managed to make the correct decision. One small step for J kind.
chotto_2
She's just replaced insulin with a ton of inmuno suppressants though.
I'd rather be on insulin...
OssanAmerica
Another utterly backwards law in Japan. Many other nations accept doners who are not family or related to the patient for kidney transplants. Additionally many allow donations from deceased.
In the US just about anyone on dialysis is on a kidney wait list with an average wait time of 3-5 years. In Japan no such list exists, and nearly all dialysis patients are destined to remain that way for the remainder of their lives.
Hopfully this case brings the issue to the forefront so that Japa can catch up to the rest of the developed world.
リッチ
The road blocks peole do to hinder health is beyond me.
OssanAmerica
There is no particular life or death situation where a transplant is necessary, unless the several dialysis methods have all failed. Which is highly unlikely.
All CKD patients who are already on dialysis are in a life or death situation as they can die from uremia in a matter of weeks or months if they do not receive dialysis.
The significance here is that a same-sex marriage partner was accepted as a donor in Japan.
Abe234
chotto_2Today 12:58 pm JST
I think you might find there is way way more to it than just diabetes and insulin. The Kidney was replaced because she had kidney failure. ( probably) The leading cause of kidney failure and blindness is diabetes. If your in the end stages of renal failure, and you have diabetes, and they match then clinically it might make sense since you will be on the same immune suppressants anyway. One thing is for sure, it is much better than the alternative. I'd take those extra years of life. She probably hasn't just replaced the insulin. She has gained freedom to drink again, without measuring each milliliter, have shunts put in if you're on dialysis, eat what she likes, without worrying about salt intake, the ability to control the blood pressure, the risk of diabetic retanopathy gone, etc etc and "Time". Now thats something many of us would want more of. You don't have enough knowledge on the case to make that judgement.