The Terrible Price for an iPad and iPhone: 9 On Trial For Harvesting Kidney From 17-Year-Old

How much is the latest Apple product worth to you? For one 17-year-old boy in China, it was worth a kidney. 

 

In April 2011, the boy, only referred to by his surname Wang, sold his kidney for about $3500 (22,000 yuan). Now Wang is suffering from renal failure, according to state-run Xinhua news agency, and the nine people accused with aiding the boy with the illegal organ sale are on trial in southern China's Hunan province, the court announced today (Aug. 10).

 

Wang’s attorney is now seeking over $350 thousand (2.27 million yuan) in compensation, which would be enough to buy even the most expensive Apple product. 

 

One of the defendants, He Wei, was responsible for recruiting others to take part in the transplant, and scouring Internet chat rooms for potential donors. The man who performed the actual transplant is Song Zhongyu, a surgeon from a provincial hospital in the Yunnan Province, according to prosecutors. Finally, Su Kaizong was the contractor for the urology department in the hospital where the operation took place. Prosecutors allege they made, almost $9,000 (56,360 yuan), $8,000 (52,000 yuan), and $9,500 (60,000 yuan) respectively. 

 

The hearing ended today and the verdict will be announced later.