It sounds like an commercial made by The Onion to sell Apple’s iPad 2: “”I wanted to buy an iPad 2, but I didn’t have the money. When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by agent saying they were able to pay RMB20,000 to buy my kidney.”

It sounds like an commercial made by The Onion
to sell Apple’s iPad 2: “I wanted to
buy an iPad 2, but I didn’t have
the money. When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by agent saying
they were able to pay RMB20,000 to buy my kidney.”

But it’s not a hoax advertisement. It is what
“Zheng”,a 17-year-old in Guangdong province, did to get the latest iPhone and iPad. After
haggling the price up to RMB22,000 (US$3,400), he travelled to Hunan province where
doctors contracted by a businessman removed his kidney in a public hospital.
He was discharged after three days and is now suffering complications from the surgery.
It also turns out that the fee was well below the black market rate for kidneys
in China, although officially organ trading is illegal. ~ London
Telegraph, June 2

Michael Cook
China
organ trafficking

• Author
• Recent Posts

Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

Latest posts by Michael Cook (see all)

• How long can you put off seeing the doctor because of lockdowns? - December 3, 2021
• House of Lords debates assisted suicide—again - October 28, 2021
• Spanish government tries to restrict conscientious objection - October 28, 2021