(Christina Bonnington) Five people have been charged with intentional injury in the case of a Chinese teenager’s obsessive quest for Apple products.
Last April, 17-year-old Wang, a resident of one of China’s poorest provinces, sold a kidney in order to purchase an iPhone and iPad 2. The transaction wasn’t discovered until his mom asked where he had gotten the money to purchase the pricey Apple products.
Now five people, including Wang’s surgeon, have been charged with intent to harm in the case, according to Reuters. Wang received $3,500 for the organ, while the defendants (the surgeon, medical staff, and a few other accomplices) pocketed the rest of the $35,000 they received for the actual sale of the kidney.
The human organs trade has been banned in China since 2007 — so if this deal had been conducted five years ago, this wouldn’t have been a crime at all.
Wang now suffers from renal deficiency and his condition is getting worse, doctors say. Let this be a lesson to any other crazed Apple fans out there: An electronics device is not worth compromising your health. Or your life.