China – Man who sold kidney to buy new iPhone is now bed-ridden and unable to work

A man who sold his kidney so he could buy a new iPhone is now bed-ridden and unable to work, according to reports.

The donor, known only as Wang, earned (22,000 yuan) when he flogged the organ on the Chinese black market.

Xiao Wang was only 17 years old when he decided to sell one of his kidneys in order to buy the iPhone 4 he couldn’t otherwise afford.

After the operation Wang was told he was going to have a normal life with just one kidney, but almost eight years on, the 24-year-old is permanently disabled and dependent on dialysis. Back in 2011, the iPhone 4 was Apple’s flagship smartphone and a status symbol at Xiao Wang’s school in Chengzhou, China.

However, he came from a poor family who couldn’t afford to buy him the trendy gadget, so he decided to sell one of his healthy organs in order to get his hands on enough money to buy the coveted device.

With help from a middleman, Wang got in touch with shady characters who specialized in trading organs on the black market and agreed to sell one of his kidneys for 22,000 yuan, more than enough to buy the iPhone 4 he so badly desired.

The 17-year-old figured that he only needed one of his kidneys to survive and the dubious doctor he met before the operation confirmed that he would be able to lead a normal life with just one of his organs.

The procedure was carried out in an illegal hospital in Chenzou, and even though it was considered a success at the time, health complications arose soon after.

The man, now 25, sold it when he was 17-year’s old.

Local media reports that he wanted to buy new tech but his family was too poor to afford the gadgets.

It is claimed he found dodgy organ harvesting middle-men on an online forum called QQ. Speaking to CNTV.cncn, Wang said: “At the time, I wanted to buy an iPad2, but I didn’t have any money.