The number of organ donation cases in China from people suffering brain death has reached six after a couple in Shaoguan agreed to donate their brain-dead son's organs, the Chinese Society of Organ Transplantation said on Friday.

According to a report in Guangzhou's Information Times on Friday, a young man surnamed Lin, 25, met a car accident on Monday evening in the northern city in Guangdong.

Even though he was immediately taken to a local hospital, he was certified brain dead on Wednesday morning.

Lin's elder brother then suggested his organs could be donated. His suggestion was initially met with a mixed response from the family.

Their father is suffering from cerebral thrombosis, so understood how a healthy organ could secure another patient's life, and agreed with the idea.

While Lin's mother was reluctant at first, she then said it would be OK because in this way, it looked as if her son was still alive in the world if his organs were transplanted.

The couple contacted the organ transplant society, which was established in 2000, and asked for organ transplantation.

Having got Guangdong Provincial Health Department's approval, doctors stopped treatment on Lin on Wednesday afternoon. A medical team assigned by the Guangdong Hospital of Traditional Medicine and the society came to Shaoguan to perform the organ transplant operation at 4 pm on Wednesday.

According to the will of Lin's family, the man's cornea, liver and kidney were removed for donation.

"It is the second brain-dead organ donor in Guangdong," said Chen Zhonghua, vice-president of the organ transplant society.

(China Daily December 31, 2005)