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Teenager Sells Kidney For iPad

Jacob Chung |
June 3, 2011 | 5:37 p.m. PDT

Senior Tech Editor

 flickr/Stinkie Pinkie)
flickr/Stinkie Pinkie)
Some people will go to great lengths to keep up with the latest and greatest in tech toys. So what's your iPad worth to you? One Chinese teenager was willing to risk life and limb.

According to the Shangai Daily, a 17-year-old teen from the Anhui Province of China sold his kidney for 20,000 yuan or $3,000 USD out of frustration he couldn't afford the new Apple device. 

"A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan," the teenager said to Shangi Daily. The teen, referred to by his surname Zheng, reportedly went to a hospital in Chenzhou City April 28 where his kidney was illegally removed. Concerned by his deteriorating health, Zheng's mother contacted the police and an investigation was launched, reports the Shanghai Daily. 

The Telegraph:

"When he came back, he had a laptop and a new Apple handset," his mother, identified as Miss Liu, told the station, showing off the livid red scar where her son's kidney was removed, "I wanted to know how he had got so much money and he finally confessed that he had sold one of his kidneys."

Further reported: 

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

Shanghai Daily:

It turned out that the Chenzhou No. 198 Hospital was not qualified to perform organ transplant. The hospital claimed they had no idea about Zheng's surgery because the department that did the surgery had been contracted to a Fujian businessman.

As unbelievable as this story may sound, organs being sold in the black market is a serious issue around the world. In the U.S. alone, there are hundreds of thousands of people waiting in organ donor lists still in need of kidneys, hearts, lungs as well as other vital organs, reports CBS News.  



 

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