17-year-old sells his kidney for iPad 2

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In summary, a 17-year-old high school student in China sold his kidney for an iPad 2. He did this to save money and help his district that is not a poor one. He got his money and there is no harm done.
  • #1
Evo
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I hope that this turns out to be a sick joke.

The idiocy has to stop. What is wrong with people and their twisted addiction to games and electronics? But with people in Korea dying from starvation while playing RPGs. American mothers killing their infants because they interrupted them while chatting on Facebook or playing Farmland, nothing surprises me when it comes to human stupidity.

The student, a 17-year-old high school student named Zheng, told a local newspaper "I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it. A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan." The "broker" was true to his word, and after the operation was completed on April 28, Zheng received his 20,000 yuan, which equates to a little over $3,000.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20110602/tc_yblog_technews/17-year-old-sells-his-kidney-for-ipad-2;_ylt=Aq8ajAnHTp9ulaZPrsBaDTymG78C;_ylu=X3oDMTRkN3JobWhyBGFzc2V0A3libG9nX3RlY2huZXdzLzIwMTEwNjAyLzE3LXllYXItb2xkLXNlbGxzLWhpcy1raWRuZXktZm9yLWlwYWQtMgRjY29kZQN0b3BnbXB0b3AyMDBwb29sBGNwb3MDOQRwb3MDOQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrAzE3LXllYXItb2xkcw--
 
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  • #2
I tried to sell my spleen to Steve Jobs, but all he would offer me for it was a 5th generation Ipod... AS IF I WOULD BE CAUGHT DEAD WITH THAT THING!
 
  • #3
"A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan"

I also worry about harmful people lurking on the internet. This is not new. Recently, I recall one person was charged for encouraging others to suicide. Exploiting/bullying children on internet is another common problem.
 
  • #4
Oh my, Evo... :frown:

My respect for the human race has taken another big hit...
 
  • #5
Sad thing is there are a lot of people in parts of the world who would have done it for much less. But his district is not a poor one.
 
  • #6
I'm surprised he sold it so cheaply. I remember a news report saying they went for $50K+ in the US black market.
 
  • #7
rootX said:
"A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan"

I also worry about harmful people lurking on the internet. This is not new. Recently, I recall one person was charged for encouraging others to suicide. Exploiting/bullying children on internet is another common problem.

The real surprising thing is that he actually got his money!
 
  • #8
Pengwuino said:
The real surprising thing is that he actually got his money!

But same goes for lots of young girls working for adult sites companies.
 
  • #9
What a fool. I would have paid 5 grand. Canadian.
 
  • #10
Although this makes me curious as to how much ipads cost these days. He must have gotten the 2nd best model.
 
  • #11
Dominance said:
What a fool. I would have paid 5 grand. Canadian.

I enjoy more liver, with onions. But the price, it's too high
 
  • #12
While that amount equals around 3000 USD, which seems really cheap, I wonder what the cost of living there is compared to the USA. How far would that 3000 USD get you.
 
  • #13
QuarkCharmer said:
While that amount equals around 3000 USD, which seems really cheap, I wonder what the cost of living there is compared to the USA. How far would that 3000 USD get you.

In general, basic necessities like food, water, clothing, and public transit are several times cheaper in China than in the US. For example, fruits and vegetables cost 2-4 yuan per kilogram. Non brand-name shirts and pants are several tens of yuan. Public transit is 1 yuan per ride in most large cities. A bottle of juice is about 2 yuan, and for 6 yuan, you can get a big bowl of noodles at a restaurant that I couldn't finish. 20,000 yuan can buy you about as much in necessities in China as 20,000 USD in the United States.

Of course, foreign imports are about the same price as they are in the West. You can't buy an iPad for 500 yuan, for example, and you can't buy a Core i7 laptop for 900.
 
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  • #14
Are we offended that he sold his kidney, or that he sold it for what seems to be a low price?
 
  • #15
zooxanthellae said:
Are we offended that he sold his kidney, or that he sold it for what seems to be a low price?

I'm not offended at anything. I personally don't think selling a kidney for an iPad is worth the health risk, but plenty of people pay money to hurt their own health by drinking or smoking. I'm not in the business of deciding for other people what risks they're willing to accept.

As a side note, it's interesting that this 17-year-old is a freshman in high school. Did he get held back 4 years or something? 17 sounds right for a freshman in college.
 
  • #16
micromass said:
Oh my, Evo... :frown:

My respect for the human race has taken another big hit...

Apropos--a report on the Rise of the Red Market over at Foreign Policy:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/31/the_rise_of_the_red_market

KingNothing said:
I'm surprised he sold it so cheaply. I remember a news report saying they went for $50K+ in the US black market.

Dominance said:
What a fool. I would have paid 5 grand. Canadian.

As with many other resource-based goods (e.g. coffee, diamonds, illicit drugs), the profit and cost increase exponentially at every level, with the primary miners / farmers / 'donors' paid peanuts. There was a great graphic in the Daily Show's Earth the Book that had a satirical look into the diamond pyramid.

On a similar note, as abhorrent as we find slavery these days (and debt bondage, indenturetude, etc.), life has never been cheaper:
http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/07/cost-of-slaves-falls-to-historic-low/
 
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  • #17
ideasrule said:
As a side note, it's interesting that this 17-year-old is a freshman in high school. Did he get held back 4 years or something? 17 sounds right for a freshman in college.

He sold his kidney, apparently for a cheap price, to buy an iPad.

I look forward to the moment when he gets bored of it because it turns out to be not as valuable as his kidney; or Apple releases the next model, which should be anytime soon... (after all, they didn't put a camera on the first one, and the second looks just like the first, but with a camera! Gosh... they must have forgot it the first time...).

I wonder what he would sell for the iPad 3? I don't think his brain would fetch much.
 
  • #18
The iPad has a kidney app anyway.
 
  • #19
Chi Meson said:
The iPad has a kidney app anyway.

:rofl:
 
  • #20
Do you think I could write for Colbert? :redface:
 
  • #21
nobahar said:
I wonder what he would sell for the iPad 3?



His other kidney, of course. He doesn't seem too smart, to me...
 
  • #22
BBC Article ..

The case highlights China's black market in organ trafficking. A scarcity of organ donors has led to a flourishing trade.

It all started when the high school student saw an online advert offering money to organ donors.

Illegal agents organised a trip to the hospital and paid him $3,392 (£2,077) after the operation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13639934
 
  • #23
I caught this in the Sun newspaper (I apologise for reading lol).
Im suprised he got as much monies as he did....wonder what I can get for my liv...
 
  • #25
Another mother starves child to death while playing WoW and chatting online.

http://beta.news.yahoo.com/mexico-mom-gets-25-years-starving-daughter-145411042.html
 
  • #26
Evo said:
Another mother starves child to death while playing WoW and chatting online.

http://beta.news.yahoo.com/mexico-mom-gets-25-years-starving-daughter-145411042.html

:cry: horrible...
 
  • #27
Evo said:
Another mother starves child to death while playing WoW and chatting online.

http://beta.news.yahoo.com/mexico-mom-gets-25-years-starving-daughter-145411042.html

Meh. It's not as if parents had no ways of neglecting their children before the advent of online gaming. I'm pretty sure that 2000 years ago, some child died because his father was too busy making a clay pot.
 
  • #28
MartinJH said:
I caught this in the Sun newspaper (I apologise for reading lol).
Im suprised he got as much monies as he did....wonder what I can get for my liv...

I'm surprised they paid him at all if they're willing to go that far in breaking the law.
 
  • #29
Too bad these people don't sell their reproductive organs instead. At least they'd have no way to make more people just like them.
 
  • #30
I heard that story today, and an interview with the mother, which was translated. The kid got an i-pad and laptop. The mother is distraught.

Pretty sad what folks do to themselves and others.

I'm sure the broker for the kindey doubled or than so his investment.
 
  • #31
Astronuc said:
I heard that story today, and an interview with the mother, which was translated. The kid got an i-pad and laptop. The mother is distraught.

I heard the interview in Chinese, and the mother claimed her son arrived with "a laptop computer and an Apple cellphone". Apparently he didn't buy the IPAD2 after all?
 
  • #32
ideasrule said:
I heard the interview in Chinese, and the mother claimed her son arrived with "a laptop computer and an Apple cellphone". Apparently he didn't buy the IPAD2 after all?

Probably waiting for the inevitable iPad 3
 
  • #33
ideasrule said:
I heard the interview in Chinese, and the mother claimed her son arrived with "a laptop computer and an Apple cellphone". Apparently he didn't buy the IPAD2 after all?

Would she have misjudged the gadgets? Some people don't know much about these tablet computers.
 
  • #34
Newai said:
Would she have misjudged the gadgets? Some people don't know much about these tablet computers.
A 17 year old sold his kidney and we're discussing the electronics? :bugeye:
 
  • #35
Evo said:
A 17 year old sold his kidney and we're discussing the electronics? :bugeye:

Yeah, agree Evo, makes you wonder what the kid (who obviously is dirt poor, or mentally ill and dirt poor) would agree to give up a kidney (I wonder where the surgery was performed to begin with, that scares me in and of itself) and how the perpetrators enticed him to agree to it. The statement in the link: "his mother noticed the computers and the deep red scar" has me wondering about post operative infection as well. Yikes. From this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13639934" :
The case highlights China's black market in organ trafficking, where a scarcity of organ donors has led to a flourishing trade, BBC says.
China banned organ trafficking in 2007 and has introduced a voluntary donor scheme to try to combat the trade.

Rhody... :eek:
 
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