Prof. Wendy Rogers
Wendy Rogers is a Professor of Clinical Ethics and Deputy Director, Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics.
While a member of the Australian Health Ethics Committee (2003-2006), she served as deputy chair of the working party responsible for developing the National Ethical Guidelines on Organ and Tissue Donation. Wendy's work is widely published in international journals and she is the co-editor of a recent collection on Vulnerability (published by Oxford University Press).
Prof. Wendy Rogers will attend Q&A panel discussions at Australian Premiere of "Hard To Believe" on Aug. 3rd and 4th in Sydney.
Below is Prof. Wendy Rogers' testimonial to "Hard To Believe".
“‘Hard to Believe’ should be compulsory viewing for anyone who is interested in the ethics of organ transplantation.”
— Prof. Wendy Rogers
"This important film investigates the source of the organs used in China’s rapidly expanding transplantation program. The answer is horrific: there is credible evidence that Chinese prisoners of conscience are murdered on demand for their organs, in a process of reverse matching not practiced anywhere else in the world. In most countries with well regulated deceased donor programs, legally and ethically procured organs from a dying person are offered to recipients on the waiting list who are the best ‘match’ for the available organs. In China, this process is turned on its head. Wealthy recipients are matched against a large pool of prisoners, with the best matched prisoner scheduled for execution at the convenience of surgeon and recipient.
This grisly and indeed hard to believe conclusion is presented through interviews with a range of individuals who provide their insights and experiences. Yet despite the evidence upon which this film is built, few people are aware of the nature and extent of the human rights abuses underlying China’s transplant program.
'Hard to Believe' should be compulsory viewing for anyone who is interested in the ethics of organ transplantation. This film shows us the dark face of human rights abuses, of what can come to pass when individuals are reduced, literally, to the sum of their parts. The participation of medical practitioners in the harvesting of organs breaches all ethical codes, and is impossible to reconcile with the role of physicians to heal rather than harm. "
“This film [Hard To Believe] shows us the dark face of human rights abuses, of what can come to pass when individuals are reduced, literally, to the sum of their parts. ”
— Prof. Wendy Rogers
Wendy Rogers
Professor of Clinical Ethics, and Deputy Director of the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics
February 2016