Episode 226: Killed to Order: Inside China’s Organ Harvesting

This week on VSRF Live, we welcome back Jan Jekielek—an investigative journalist, filmmaker, and senior editor at The Epoch Times. He is the host of American Thought Leaders, known for long-form conversations on politics, culture, and global affairs. Born in Canada to Polish immigrants, Jekielek studied evolutionary biology before moving into human rights advocacy and ultimately journalism.

He joins us to discuss his new book, Killed to Order: China’s Organ Harvesting Industry and the True Nature of America’s Biggest Adversary, which examines China’s organ harvesting industry and the body of reporting and testimony that has brought global attention to the issue.

In this episode, we’ll look closely at the investigation behind the book—what has been uncovered, how these claims have been documented, and why they continue to raise serious ethical and human rights concerns. We’ll also discuss the challenges of reporting on tightly controlled systems, and what it means when allegations of this scale remain difficult to fully verify or fully acknowledge.

We’ll then bring the conversation closer to home, examining organ donation and transplant systems in the United States, including how donor registries work, what people are consenting to, and how brain death is defined and applied in medical settings.

We’ll also touch on Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program and the ongoing ethical questions surrounding end-of-life care, consent, and oversight.

This is a conversation that connects global investigations with policies and practices closer to home—raising questions about transparency, safeguards, and accountability.

Join us Tuesday for a serious, wide-ranging discussion.

⏰ Time: 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT
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