About seven years ago, when Xiao Wang was only 17 years old; he decided to sell one of his kidneys so that he could afford to buy iPhone 4. Once the operation was complete, Wang was told that he was going to be able to live a normal life with one kidney. However, eight years have gone by, and now the 24-year old is disabled permanently and is dependent on dialysis to live.
iPhone 4 was Apple’s flagship smartphone launched in 2011 and quickly became a status symbol at Xiao Wang’s school situated in Changzhou, China. Xiao Wang belonged to a poor family that couldn’t afford to purchase the trendy gadget. Xiao Wang decided to sell one of his healthy organs so that he could also afford the latest iPhone. He reached out to a middleman who then introduced him to some people that specialized in organ-trading on the black market.
It was decided that Xiao Wang would receive $3,200 for this kidney. The amount of money was more than enough to help him get an iPhone 4. However, this idiotic decision has transformed his life into a disaster. The 17-year-old boy figured that he could go on to live on one kidney and the dubious doctors that carried out the procedure also ensured him that he would be able to lead a normal life even with a single kidney. The medical procedure was carried out in an illegal hospital in Changzhou. The operation was termed successful, however; complications arose soon enough.
According to a report by Oriental Daily, ‘Unfortunately, the operating environment wasn’t sanitized properly, which led to an infection on his wound. Worse still, Xiao Wang’s family were kept in the dark about his kidney removal operation and only found out about it when the teen couldn’t hide his health problems any longer.’
The boy was scared and did not tell his parents about what he had done or the reasons behind his actions. The infection soon spread to his sole kidney and by the time he was provided with proper medical care; it was a little too late. The only possible way for him to survive was via means of permanent dialysis. Xiao Wang has been spending most of his time in bed ever since and is heavily dependent on the dialysis machine that is keeping him alive but at the same time shortening his life-span.
His parents were able to track down the middleman and the doctor who had performed the illegal operation. The parents sued them both and were able to receive compensation worth $320,000. Most of the compensation has been used for the medical treatment and drugs for the 24-year-old.
The moral of the story is that we should not strive for worldly items at the sake of our health.
