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BSP-14
FBL-ESP-FRA-HEALTH
Abidal liver transplant legal: Spanish health body
MADRID, July 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A liver transplant for cancer-stricken
ex-Barcelona footballer Eric Abidal was carried out according to the law,
Spanish health authorities said Tuesday, dismissing reports of organ
trafficking.
The transplant “took place according to the law in place and good clinical
practice,” said a statement from the Spanish health ministry’s body
responsible for monitoring organ donations.
It noted the Barcelona clinic where the transplant took place had the
birth certificates and other documents of both the organ recipient and the
donor.
Health authorities launched an investigation into allegations that
Abidal’s organ transplant may have been illegal.
Online newspaper El Confidencial said earlier this month that wiretaps
from a probe into corruption involving then-Barcelona president Sandro Rosell
indicated that the club may have illegally procured a liver for Abidal.
Rosell denied the report in an interview published by El Mundo on Tuesday.
Abidal, a former France international, received a liver transplant in
April 2012. He resumed his playing career a year later before retiring in
2014. Now Barcelona’s sport director, Abidal maintains that his cousin Gerard
was the actual donor.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1706 hrs