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Man bedridden for life after selling kidney to buy iPhone

Bullet Club

Member
Man bedridden for life after selling kidney to buy iPhone

A young man who sold his kidney as a teenager in order to buy a new iPhone and iPad is now bedridden for life after his remaining kidney failed.

Chinese man Wang Shangkun, 25, was aged just 17 when he sold his right kidney to black market organ harvesters in April 2011.

Mr Wang, from Anhui Province in East China, received AUD$4,500 and purchased a iPhone 4 and iPad 2 with the funds.

“Why do I need a second kidney? One is enough,” he said in reports at the time.

Mr Wang now spends his days in bed and relies on dialysis to survive his kidney failure, local Chinese media recently revealed.

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.

bLGWIAk.jpg


Mr 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.

Mr Wang desperately sought the new iPhone in order to show off to his friends, according to reports.

However, his family lived in one of China’s poorest provinces and could not afford it, so he turned to other means to raise the money.

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.

FOp7Gen.jpg


Source: Yahoo7

Wonder if he's upgraded his phone since then or if he still uses the kidney iphone which you can now buy for under $100?
 

SKM1

Member
This is just stupid. I can't even comprehend how you would think this is a good idea. At least some people got jailed. And could he not get another kidney?

that's how mafia works
 

Fbh

Member
Something something Darwin award

This is just stupid. I can't even comprehend how you would think this is a good idea. At least some people got jailed. And could he not get another kidney?

that's how mafia works

I imagine when you willingly give up your kidney to the black market in order to buy a phone you might not be at the top of the transplant priority list
 

TimFL

Member
Something something Darwin award



I imagine when you willingly give up your kidney to the black market in order to buy a phone you might not be at the top of the transplant priority list
This. No idea how these lists work in detail, but I'd ban a guy willingly giving up a kidney for monetary gain from ever receiving a transplant. Imagine being the parent of a kid who also needs a kidney transplant and you learn the one your kid was supposed to get is going to a guy who sold one of his for an iPhone.

But it's probably being handled like livers for alcoholics: very very low priority for you on the list.
 
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SKM1

Member
This. No idea how these lists work in detail, but I'd ban a guy willingly giving up a kidney for monetary gain from ever receiving a transplant. Imagine being the parent of a kid who also needs a kidney transplant and you learn the one your kid was supposed to get is going to a guy who sold one of his for an iPhone.

But it's probably being handled like livers for alcoholics: very very low priority for you on the list.

Maybe he could sell the phone back and...
lol
 

Wings 嫩翼翻せ

so it's not nice
I can't help but feel bad for someone like this. Makes me feel fortunate to be able to ask my parents for a phone knowing they can afford it, I guess.

However, the question remains: knowing his province is so poor, what made him trust the resources available [for the surgery]? Was 王先生 aware of Chinese black market surgery practice?
 

Super Mario

Banned
I give it 5-10 years before these kinds of "victim" stories hit our liberal media. "Wages are so bad, meanwhile billionaires continue to billionaire. People are having to sell their organs. I'm literally shaking."
 

Hulk_Smash

Banned
I give it 5-10 years before these kinds of "victim" stories hit our liberal media. "Wages are so bad, meanwhile billionaires continue to billionaire. People are having to sell their organs. I'm literally shaking."

Eh. They already do that now for far less than selling organs. Remember we need a LIVING WAGE. You can’t live off of minimum wage!

You can.

Besides, isn’t China one of the socialist utopias that the left is always touting? We all know there are no billionaires there! They love the people too much. They are TOO fair to them.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
Think of all that screen time he’ll get since he’s now in bed always.
 

Cunth

Fingerlickin' Good!
Got compensation, doesn’t have to work or study, can watch YouTube all day on his kidney phone. Pretty sweet.
 
D

Deleted member 77995

Unconfirmed Member
I give it 5-10 years before these kinds of "victim" stories hit our liberal media. "Wages are so bad, meanwhile billionaires continue to billionaire. People are having to sell their organs. I'm literally shaking."
Is there anything else in your programming other than twisting every topic into something about liberals?

----

Play a stupid game, win a stupid prize. No sympathy from me for this dude.
 

Dark Star

Member
your health is priceless
your organs are invaluable

never take these kinds of things for granted, very sad to read this
 
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EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
This is a common thought process in the lower to even middle class (plasma, kidney etc) considering that I’m not all surprised!
 

iconmaster

Banned
To be fair, the iPhone 4 was a pretty good phone. (I assume he got the free case rather than having to sell another organ to work around the antenna issue.)
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Besides, isn’t China one of the socialist utopias that the left is always touting?
What??? I have yet to see a single fellow lefty to tout China as a utopia. But I guess if you live in a world of conspiracy theories and evil socialis boogiemen, beliefs like this are the expected outcome...
 

Sakura

Member
They got 300,000 in compensation. Surely that is enough to just buy a new kidney off the black market and have some still left over.
 
Stories like this make me sad. What led to this guy feeling so desperately in need of these electronics to justify such an extreme measure?

I know it’s his fault. I can’t help but feel pity. Living everyday hooked up to a dialysis machine? Holy shit that’s tragic. Sad, sad for the young man.


everything from this article happened by 2012, is this guy even still alive?

I don’t know all the stats but I’d imagine the 5 year survival rate for someone needing 24/7 dialysis is not high. Maybe he got a transplant?
 

Hulk_Smash

Banned
What??? I have yet to see a single fellow lefty to tout China as a utopia. But I guess if you live in a world of conspiracy theories and evil socialis boogiemen, beliefs like this are the expected outcome...

Have you been to reset era ever?

There were people arguing in one forum wether or not China should be considered a 1st world country. The fact that anyone would think this is laughable. The human rights violations, media censorship, and forced population control would count them out right off the bat. And then it also casts doubt on all the other reports of progress.

Leftists use to defend China (and the Soviets) before World War Two way more than they do now. They talk today about China’s explosive growth (since they opened up their economy to the free market-thanks capitalism!) and younger communists shrugging off the influence of past generations. They either ignore or have to begrudgingly admit the human rights violations and full on mass murder that has taken place in the past to the tune of 40 million people.

You should read the works of early socialists in America who praised Stalin and Chairman Mau just to reverse their position in the decades following World War 2. So now they have to put an asterisk next to their praise.

But they never seem to learn. look at the way they fawn over China’s little communists cousins: Venezuela and Cuba. How many idiots are still wearing Che Guavera shirts or think Chavez is a good leader?

Michael Moore was over in Cuba slobbering over their healthcare system. Sean Penn and Danny Glover down in Venezuela, chumming it up with Chavez. Now they are again having to admit they were wrong.

When will leftist ever make the connection that an increase in government takeover of anything increases corruption exponentially?
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Have you been to reset era ever?
It was my main forum for a year. I cannot recall much of praise for China.
There were people arguing in one forum wether or not China should be considered a 1st world country. The fact that anyone would think this is laughable. The human rights violations, media censorship, and forced population control would count them out right off the bat. And then it also casts doubt on all the other reports of progress.
Chances are they meant because of their economical power, not because of their great political system.
But they never seem to learn. look at the way they fawn over China’s little communists cousins: Venezuela and Cuba. How many idiots are still wearing Che Guavera shirts or think Chavez is a good leader?
Yes, people idolising Che Guevara exist, but I have yet to hear the praises for China from leftists (though I disagree with leftist who sing the praises of Guevara, as well; human rights violations are never acceptable).
When will leftist ever make the connection that an increase in government takeover of anything increases corruption exponentially?
I hope they will never make this false connection. Governmental influence and government-controlled infrastructural fields can be effective ways to counterbalance the power distribution that comes with liberal markets and big capital.
 

Hulk_Smash

Banned
It was my main forum for a year. I cannot recall much of praise for China.

Chances are they meant because of their economical power, not because of their great political system.
Yes, people idolising Che Guevara exist, but I have yet to hear the praises for China from leftists (though I disagree with leftist who sing the praises of Guevara, as well; human rights violations are never acceptable).
I hope they will never make this false connection. Governmental influence and government-controlled infrastructural fields can be effective ways to counterbalance the power distribution that comes with liberal markets and big capital.

“Big capital” “liberal markets”. You mean things that people participate in voluntarily? Things that in order for us to buy into, we have to be coninviced of it first? Not really sure that compares to an insutition that owns all the power and can make people give them their money against their wills.

As far as China-loving leftists... I don’t know what to say. They exists and are fairly common, but usually have to do exactly what you just did- praise their economic growth (again, thanks to free markets- because there is no way in hell it was because of great commie economic policy) while putting an asterisk next to mass murder. There was a thread on resetera that debated the one child policy with many of the people siding with the Chinese government. There was another thread where they went back and forth on whether or not China should be considered 1st world- with the focus being on cheap and crumbling *new* infrastructure post Beijing olympics. And people still defended them!
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
“Big capital” “liberal markets”. You mean things that people participate in voluntarily?
Well of course, we all have a free choice whether we participate in liberal markets. I mean, if I choose to live in a socialist democracy then sure as hell this will be happening tomorrow.
There was a thread on resetera that debated the one child policy with many of the people siding with the Chinese government.
How it was executed was draconian, but the overpopulation was a serious issue and I would struggle to come up with a good solution against it. Maybe you could give financial incentives for not having children, but other than that, it is a really difficult thing to deal with. Which does not excuse the numerous human rights breaches of China, mind you, but the overpopulation issue was a very difficult issue where no similar issue had to be solved in western countries so far.
 

Hulk_Smash

Banned
Well of course, we all have a free choice whether we participate in liberal markets. I mean, if I choose to live in a socialist democracy then sure as hell this will be happening tomorrow.

How it was executed was draconian, but the overpopulation was a serious issue and I would struggle to come up with a good solution against it. Maybe you could give financial incentives for not having children, but other than that, it is a really difficult thing to deal with. Which does not excuse the numerous human rights breaches of China, mind you, but the overpopulation issue was a very difficult issue where no similar issue had to be solved in western countries so far.

You don’t. That is simply not government’s job. And I question the assertion that they even had a problem to begin with. They are the second largest country area wise. They had the room. The fact that no one wanted to move out into the country and strike out on their own or to smaller villages shows the awful and strict controls the government has over starting new businesses, purchasing property, starting a family farm, moving to a neighboring country (not always China’s fault why they won’t move away). You want to see a country that has a real problem with overpopulation? Read about Bangladesh. That’s the closest I’ve ever seen to overpopulation being a problem.
 

DiscoJer

Member
The computer game adaption of Neuromancer allowed you to sell your body parts to get money to upgrade your gear.
 
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