Chinese teen sells his kidney for an iPad 2

[Jazzy]

A Chinese teenager was so desperate to acquire the new iPad 2 that he sold one of his kidneys for just £2,000 to pay for it, according to reports.



The 17-year-old boy, identified only by his surname, Zheng, confessed to his mother that he had sold the kidney after spotting an online advertisement offering cash to anyone prepared to become an organ donor.



I wanted to buy an iPad 2, but I didn't have the money, the boy told Shenzhen TV in the southern province of Guangdong, When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by agent saying they were able to pay RMB20,000 to buy a kidney. After negotiations, the boy travelled north to the city of Chenzhou in Hunan Province where the kidney was removed at a local hospital which discharged him after three days, paying a total of RMB22,000 for the organ.



Trading organs online is a common practice in China, despite repeated attempts by China's government to stamp out the practice. Last year Japanese television reported that a group of transplant tourists had paid £50,000 to receive new kidneys in China.



According to official statistics more than a million people in China need a transplant every year, but less than 10,000 receive organs, driving an almost unstoppable black-market organ trade that enriches brokers, doctors and corrupt government officials.



The boy, who has suffered complications following the surgery, returned home but was unable to keep what he had done from his mother.

Read full story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/8552195/Chinese-teen-sells-his-kidney-for-an-iPad-2.html

 

[beowulf]

and two days later apple announce the release of the ipad 3

 

[Corleone]

The Chinese are getting more and more bizarre..

 

[Bluezone777]

People are so dumb to risk death for some silly piece of electronics that will become outdated in a few years at best. So what is he going to do when the next one comes out and he doesn't have the money to buy that? That's assuming he don't end up dead due to his choice to donate one of his kidneys.

 

[Evil Eye]

That's rather stupid... comforting to know how their communism is doing though.

 

[Jazzy]

Disgusting that a doctor would remove a kidney from a 17 year old boy without consent from his parents. This boy could have and still could die from this.

 

[lucasbytegenius]

I was shocked when I read this the other day. I completely understand his desire for an iPad 2, but to go to that extreme...man.

I hope that broker gets put in jail for life.