A man, who almost eight years ago today, sold his right kidney to black market organ harvesters to buy an iPhone 4 and iPad 2, is now bedridden for the rest of his life, relying on regular dialysis after his left kidney failed.
Yahoo News, citing Australscope, a media outfit based in Australia, said Wang Shangkun, 25, was just 17 when he sold his right kidney in April 2011.
Wang, from Anhui Province in East China, received AUD$4,500 and purchased an iPhone 4 and iPad 2 with the funds, according to the report.
“Why do I need a second kidney? One is enough,” he was quoted as saying in reports at the time.
Wang now spends his days in bed and relies on dialysis to survive his kidney failure, local Chinese media recently revealed, said Yahoo News.
He developed renal deficiency shortly after the illegal surgery, which is believed to have led to an infection due to the unsanitary setting where it took place and the apparent lack of postoperative care.
Wang was also forced to give up his studies and now lives on social benefits.
Nine people were arrested in connection with the case and five, including the surgeons who harvested his kidney, were jailed in 2012.
His family was eventually awarded about $300,000 in compensation later the same year.
Wang’s family lived in one of China’s poorest provinces and could not afford the iPhone, so he turned to other means to raise the money, said the report.
The operation occurred in the city of Chenzhou in southern China, at the hands of the two doctors who were also employed at local hospitals, said the report.
