An iPhone and iPad were worth more to a Chinese teenager than his kidney…. Now five people in southern China face charges of illegal organ trading. The 17-year-old, surnamed Wang, received about $3,500 for his kidney, which was removed and delivered to a recipient last April. Wang’s mother grew suspicious when her son returned home with the costly new gadgets, and his confession soon followed. Xinhua says the teen is now suffering from “renal insufficiency” — a decreased level of kidney function — and that his condition is deteriorating.
From the “You Did WHAT for an iPhone??” Department comes a tale of a Chinese teenager who sold a kidney (Hey, that’s why you have two kidneys, amiright??) for $3500. The lad evidently needed the money in order to purchase an iPhone and an iPad. His mother became suspicious when he showed up with the gadgets, and a confession followed in short order.
That this is a sad commentary on the state of human acquisitiveness and the desire for gadgets is self-evident. What I fail to understand is why the boy gave up his kidney so easily and evidently with so little negotiation. Eventually (and sooner than you might think) both the iPad and the iPhone will be obsolete technology…and then what? Minus a kidney, what’s a dirt-poor Apple aficionado to do in order to obtain up-to-date technology? If he was smart (and the intellectual agility of anyone willing to sell a kidney for a gadget is suspect at best), he would have negotiated a deal allowing him to upgrade as newer iPads and iPhone become available.
All kidding aside, I wish the poor kid the best; he’s not in the best of health these days. No one should feel it necessary to risk their health for a gadget.
