The Control Yuan has decided to impeach Ko Wen-che (柯文哲), the former head of National Taiwan University Hospital’s organ transplant task force, because the hospital used HIV-infected organs in four transplants last year. The Control Yuan passed a motion submitted by members Teresa Yin (尹祚芊) and Li Ful-dien (李復甸) to impeach Ko for dereliction of duty by an 8-2 vote, but it remains unclear if the move will have any tangible effect on Ko’s job.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ko said in response to the Control Yuan’s ruling.
The hospital accidentally transplanted HIV-positive organs from a Hsinchu man into four patients in August last year. A fifth organ from the man was used in an organ transplant at National Cheng Kung University Hospital in Tainan.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
As a doctor at a public hospital, Ko is subject to oversight by the Control Yuan, the government branch responsible for investigating and censuring irregular or illicit behavior by public servants and government agencies. The report said Ko neglected his duties by entrusting staff and organ donation coordinators who were not doctors with the responsibility of writing physician orders and interpreting examination reports, which violated the Physicians Act ( 醫師法). Ko neglected to review the organ donation examination results and did not follow the hospital’s normal specimen test regulations, the report added.
The Control Yuan also held Ko responsible for neglecting the training, supervision and evaluation of organ donation coordinators and for authorizing less-experienced coordinators to help with preparations before the transplant operations.
The physician’s negligence not only seriously damaged the health of organ recipients and medical staff engaged in the operations, it also greatly damaged the hospital’s reputation and Taiwan’s image, the report said.
Hospital spokesman Tan Ching-ting (譚慶鼎) said the hospital would respond after it had received and reviewed the report.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but