Former Dictator Idi Amin Dies After Failing to Arrange Kidney Transplant

The recurring debate over whether people serving long prison terms for serious crimes should be eligble to receive scarce organs briefly took on a new dimension with reports that former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was trying to find a donor for a kidney transplant.

Amin, whose former regime in Uganda has been blamed for more than 400,000 deaths and disappearances, subsequently died several days later of multiple organ failure in a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he had been living in exile.

The 78-year-old Amin's son Hashim earlier said the former dictator was surviving on dialysis and was trying to find a kidney donor to save his life. He said two kidneys have been offered by anonymous donors but both proved incompatible.

A survey conducted by the BBC on the question, "Should efforts be made to find a transplant for Idi Amin to save his life," drew the same mix of pro and con responses that are heard where reports surface of prisoners seeking life-saving transplants.

Other Sources: BBC