Chinese Man Bedridden For Life After Selling His Kidney To Buy iPhone

Everytime a new iPhone is released, people in developing countries often joke that they would have to sell their kidneys to buy an iPhone. The reason is because of the massively high price tag of iPhone devices that they need to sell their organs to afford one. However, someone did use this method to buy a new iPhone and suffered a tragic fate.

As reported by the Chinese media outlet Oriental Daily, Xiao Wang sold his kidney on the black market to buy the iPhone 4 when he was only 17 years old. Back then, the iPhone 4 had just been released and became a trendy phone at his school, those who owned this smartphone were considered cool, therefore Xiao Wang desperately wanted it, however, his parents couldn't afford this luxurious device from Apple.

In order to earn enough money to get this new premium device, the high school student contacted three middlemen through the Chinese online chatting platform QQ to sell his kidney for 22,000 CNY. At the time, Wang believed that he only needed one kidney to survive. The middle-men hired two surgeons who worked at local hospitals to perform the underground surgery. They promised Wang that he would recover and become completely healthy after a week.

However, after the operation, Wang's kidney function quickly deteriorated, he suffered from infection due to the unsanitary surgery venue and lack of post-surgery care. What made the problem worse was that his parents had no idea about their son's secret surgery and only found out when he brought home an iPhone 4 and an iPad 2, his mother asked him where he got the money and after he confessed, she called the police.

The middle-men had sold the kidney to a patient on the black market for 220,000 yuan, Wang was given 10% of the profit, while the rest was divided among the middle-men. In 2012, everyone involved in the incident including the middle-men and the surgeons were prosecuted and sent to prison. His family received 1.47 million yuan as compensation.

Wang, who is now 24 years old, is permanently disabled and need to stay in bed all day. He has to survive on social benefits and needs his family to take care of him. His family is also in a financial crisis due to huge expenses as he has had to stay in the hospital for the last 7 years and need dialysis every day since he suffers from renal failure. This is a warning to people who want to have this prestigious Apple product at all cost, even their lives.