The book Killed to Order presents a chilling reality that forces a reexamination of modern China. At the center of this work is Jan Jekielek, a senior editor at The Epoch Times and host of “American Thought Leaders,” who argues that forced organ harvesting in China is real, systemic, and has operated for years on a significant scale.
This is not framed as speculation. The evidence cited includes tribunal findings, medical research, transplant data, and firsthand testimony. Together, they point to a system in which prisoners of conscience have been killed so their organs can be used for transplantation for patients including senior Chinese officials.
Who Is Jan Jekielek?
Jan Jekielek is a journalist, author, and investigator who has spent years examining human rights abuses tied to the Chinese Communist Party. He serves as a senior editor at The Epoch Times and is the host of the long-form interview program “American Thought Leaders,” where he regularly speaks with policymakers, experts, and witnesses on issues of global significance.
He is also the author of Killed to Order, a book that draws on nearly two decades of research, interviews, and analysis focused on forced organ harvesting in China. His work has centered on documenting testimony from victims, reviewing medical data, and tracking the development of China’s transplant system over time.
Through his writing and investigations, he has positioned himself as one of the most persistent voices bringing international awareness to the issue of forced organ harvesting.
What “Killed to Order” Means in Practice
The phrase “killed to order” describes a system where organ transplants can be scheduled in advance. In ethical medical systems, this is impossible. Organs become available only after unexpected deaths, and patients often wait months or years.
Yet Chinese hospitals have advertised wait times as short as two weeks and have scheduled transplant surgeries for specific dates.
The implication is not theoretical. “The so-called donor is prematched and killed to order. At scale,” Jekielek explains.
This means the donor is alive until the moment their organs are needed.
The Victims
The system relies on large populations of detained individuals who have been stripped of legal protection. The book identifies Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghur Muslims as primary victims.
Falun Gong practitioners, who follow a spiritual discipline centered on truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, were targeted after the practice was banned in 1999. Mass arrests created a vast prison population.
Jekielek describes how these prisoners were subjected to medical testing not for their benefit, but to catalog their organs. “Now you can blood type them, you can tissue type them. You can organ scan them. Now you have a database of their vitals,” he said.
Experts have described this system as a “living organ bank.”
Who Can Order an Organ Harvested
The Chinese transplant industry is a central beneficiary. Hospitals perform large volumes of transplants, supported by a steady and predictable supply of organs. Medical professionals and researchers are also part of the system. Some Chinese transplant surgeons received training abroad, including in the United States, raising concerns about international involvement.
There is also a financial incentive. Organ transplantation is highly profitable, and the ability to deliver organs on demand creates a powerful economic engine.
According to Jekielek, the system ultimately serves the priorities of the state, where control and power override ethical limits.
The scale of the system is one of its most disturbing aspects. Jekielek points to a rapid expansion in transplant activity beginning in the early 2000s. By around 2010, there were 146 hospitals performing transplants across China.
Independent research supports these concerns. A review of nearly 3,000 Chinese medical papers found evidence in multiple cases that organ removal itself caused the donor’s death.
The study concluded that physicians had effectively participated in “executions by organ removal.” This indicates that in some cases, patients were not dead before their organs were taken.
A 2019 independent tribunal in London further concluded that forced organ harvesting had been practiced in China for years on a significant scale, with Falun Gong practitioners likely the primary source of organs.
Inhuman Brutality Ignored
Despite the evidence, the issue remained on the margins for years. Jekielek says part of the reason is psychological. “In some ways, it is just so unbelievable,” he said. “People just don’t want to believe it.”
There were also economic and political incentives to look the other way. For decades, Western countries believed that engagement with China would lead to reform. That assumption delayed recognition of abuses.
Killed to Order presents a disturbing conclusion. China has built a system in which human beings can be selected, matched, and killed to supply organs for transplantation.
The evidence cited in the book, along with independent findings, points to a practice that is not incidental but industrial in scale. What makes it even more unsettling is how long it has taken for the world to confront it.
And it has yet to do so.
