The Lower House passed a bill June 18 recognizing brain death as legal death, scrapping the age limit for organ transplants and paving the way for transplants for children under 15.

Taro Nakayama (top right) applauds with fellow LDP bigwigs after a revised organ transplant bill proposed by him cleared the Lower House on June 18. KYODO PHOTO

The option, Plan A, the first of four amendments to be voted on, received 263 votes for and 167 against. The remaining three bills — Plans B, C and D — were scrapped.

Plan A recognizes people who are brain dead as legally dead with no exceptions and scraps the age limit for organ donations if family members agree, unless the prospective donor has clearly said no.

Due to the sensitive nature of the subject, lawmakers were asked to vote on one of the four choices on an individual basis and disregard party policies. The Japanese Communist Party abstained, saying deliberations had been insufficient.

The bill will now be handed over to the Upper House, where its prospects are sketchy because all Diet lawmakers are fixated on the timing of the dissolution of the Lower House, which will be followed by a general election that must be held by fall.

The dissolution would inevitably affect the deliberation schedule of the organ transplant bill in the Upper House.

Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Taro Nakayama, the chief proponent of Plan A, said after the vote that the endorsement of the bill by the Lower House gives hope to families and children in need of transplants.

"I believe today's decision has shed a shining ray of hope on those across the nation watching the situation on television — especially those with family members who are ill," he said.