7 Jailed In 'Kidney For iPad' Case In China

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7 Jailed In 'Kidney For iPad' Case In China

Posted by timothy on Friday November 30, 2012 @05:19PM from the let's-ask-tyler-cowen dept.

hackingbear writes "In China, the whole team of medical staff and their brokers were sentenced to jail yesterday over their involvement in the case of a teenager who sold a kidney to buy an iPhone and iPad. He Wei, who organized the illegal transaction in April 2011, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the Beihu District People's Court in Chenzhou City. The court added that the defendants had paid compensation worth more than 1.47 million yuan (~ US $237,000) to Wang. Ministry of Health statistics show that about 1.5 million people in China need transplants, but only 10,000 operations are performed each year."

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Don't sell your kidneys! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 17:20 · Score: 2, Funny

Sell somebody else's!
1. Re:Don't sell your kidneys! by ozmanjusri · 2012-11-30 20:08 · Score: 0
  
  A very good suggestion.
  In fact, given there is clearly a market for both iPads and kidneys, I'd like to the Slashdot libertarian brigade's opinion on this;
  Is it better to have a visible kidney in the hand, or an invisible hand in the market?
  
  --
  "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
2. Re:Don't sell your kidneys! by cheesybagel · 2012-12-01 01:31 · Score: 1
  
  That takes this addiction to a new extreme...
3. Re:Don't sell your kidneys! by philip.paradis · 2012-12-01 02:59 · Score: 1
  
  Is it better to have a visible kidney in the hand, or an invisible hand in the market?
  You appear to presume the creation of some mystical system whereby the automatic availability of the former is assured, which would be a miraculous medical and social development even in the western world. In other words, without the latter, you may find yourself lacking the former. Yes Virginia, organ availability is primarily a social problem. It's a problem that isn't solvable in the political context, as the core of the issue deals with aspects of human rights and human nature that can't by any stretch of the imagination be forced or otherwise ethically regulated.
  Depending upon the severity of your need, this may be of grave concern to you, and you may find yourself willing to rethink your personal system of ethics accordingly.
  
  --
  Write failed: Broken pipe
4. Re:Don't sell your kidneys! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 08:10 · Score: 0
  
  Libertarians don't necessarily believe that the market is the Grand Fix for everything. Libertarians do believe that the government should keep out of others' affairs and let things work themselves out. The two are similar, yet also very different. Eliminating welfare won't eliminate hunger, but it does encourage the hungry to do something about it, and at the same time unburdens the rest of the population for the hungry that decide not to do something about it.
  As both a Libertarian and someone who needs a kidney, I will answer your question that it's best to have a kidney in the body. But if a person of reasonable intelligence who is of the age of reason makes a decision his or her kidney, that personshwould be responsible for the results. In my opinion, there shouldn't have been prosecutions at all.
  Disclaimer: My beliefs don't necessarily conform to the Libertarian party platform. I don't definitively know what the Libertarian stance on welfare is; the example was my own. I choose to identify myself as a Libertarian. However, if you feel that my beliefs are inconsistent with your definition of Libertarian, you have my permission to call me something else. Might I suggest staunch-conservative-who-hates-religious-interference-and-governments-interference-on-social-moral-issues-like-gay-marriage?
5. Re:Don't sell your kidneys! by Sephwrath · 2012-12-01 12:40 · Score: 1
  
  As a non-American liberal (I think - not sure, but anyhow) you sound like my kind of libertarian. I have sympathy for the libertarian ideals... from what I have read they would come close to the anarchistic ideals of someone like Noam Chomsky... Which you may disagree with in principal... but which I find amusingly similar. I'm not necessarily as "extreme" as either of these pov's but I find it interesting that they seem to me to be so close (freedom of the individual, democratic authority) and yet so separate rhetorically. If there is a difference, please elaborate upon it and enlighten me! I am not averse to being persuaded. It seems to me that most people want the same things - Individual freedom while maximizing social stability... so I guess.. no, I hope... that we are all more similar than we like to think.
6. Re:Don't sell your kidneys! by Hordeking · 2012-12-01 16:55 · Score: 1
  
  Sell somebody else's!
  Don't they have a huge prison population? Why can't they just have some of their more troublesome prisoners volunteer theirs? You know, the ones in trouble for spilling state "secrets", even if they're beyond obvious to everyone and his dog.
  
  --
  Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
Aha by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 17:36 · Score: 5, Interesting

So you cannot sell your kidney?
But you can donate your kidney...
Sounds like prostitution -- action that is perfectly legal (for free), but cannot be done/sold for money.
1. Re:Aha by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 17:58 · Score: 0, Redundant
  
  you are selling yourself, so it is prostitution and is still illegal.
  in other news, suicide is still illegal.
  harming yourself OR others is illegal, not just harming others.
  apparently even if you are actually helping someone by harming yourself.
2. Re:Aha by gagol · 2012-11-30 19:05 · Score: 1
  
  Legal in Nevada IIRC.
  
  --
  Tomorrow is another day...
3. Re:Aha by ls671 · 2012-11-30 19:42 · Score: 1
  
  Suicide is legal is most of the States and in most western countries.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_legislation#Laws_in_individual_jurisdictions
  
  --
  Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
4. Re:Aha by jhoegl · 2012-11-30 19:43 · Score: 1
  
  The irony is the walled garden he purchased.
  He is screwed regardless!
5. Re:Aha by treeves · 2012-11-30 22:04 · Score: 1
  
  I sold myself to my employer...well it feels like that most of the time...why isn't that illegal?
  
  --
  ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
6. Re:Aha by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 22:20 · Score: 1
  
  This would still be illegal, at least in the US. The 'victim' in question was 17, which would make this person a minor, so in your analogy you're talking about prostitution of a minor.
7. Re:Aha by TFAFalcon · 2012-11-30 22:25 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  A prostitute just rents her body, she doesn't sell it.
8. Re:Aha by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 00:09 · Score: 0
  
  I sold myself to my employer...well it feels like that most of the time...why isn't that illegal?
  My employer has sold me to a new employer, three times. Why is that legal?
9. Re:Aha by Greyfox · 2012-12-01 00:26 · Score: 1
  
  Hey baby! You're full of... organs... aren't you? Are you using all of them? Want to come back to my place and... donate a kidney?
  
  --
  I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
10. Re:Aha by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 01:19 · Score: 0
  
  I don't think the crime was made by the seller (victim) in this case. It was the buyer.
  In many countries it is illegal to buy sex, but not illegal to be the one who sells it.
11. Re:Aha by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 02:36 · Score: 0
  
  Your link disagrees with you
12. Re:Aha by philip.paradis · 2012-12-01 03:39 · Score: 1
  
  This is not always true. Consider the case of the emancipated minor.
  
  --
  Write failed: Broken pipe
13. Re:Aha by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 06:41 · Score: 0
  
  No, you idiot, you cannot be emancipated out of the age of consent and prostitution laws.
14. Re:Aha by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 14:36 · Score: 0
  
  But this is only part of a body.
its amusing by Osgeld · 2012-11-30 17:39 · Score: 0

cause I think I have seen like 3 iPads in the wild (phones yea a ton) that people owned and not just behind a case, this guy endangers his life for one, and it will be obsolete before the stink from this case ends.
its just a toy people
1. Re:its amusing by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 17:43 · Score: 0
  
  what?
2. Re:its amusing by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 19:06 · Score: 0
  
  should he speak retard so you understand?
3. Re:its amusing by gagol · 2012-11-30 19:11 · Score: 2
  
  He said: cause I think I have seen like 3 iPads in the wild (phones yea a ton) that people owned and not just behind a case, this guy endangers his life for one, and it will be obsolete before the stink from this case ends. its just a toy people
  Translation: I have seen plenty of iPhones but iPads are rarely seen by me, thus I consider them to be an expensive toy.
  
  --
  Tomorrow is another day...
4. Re:its amusing by jtownatpunk.net · 2012-11-30 19:42 · Score: 1
  
  I predict that someone mentally ill enough to trade his kidney for an ipad will not handle his 1.47 million yuan in a prudent manner.
5. Re:its amusing by SternisheFan · 2012-11-30 20:07 · Score: 1
  
  cause I think I have seen like 3 iPads in the wild (phones yea a ton) that people owned and not just behind a case, this guy endangers his life for one, and it will be obsolete before the stink from this case ends.
  its just a toy people
  It is just a toy, yet people insist on risking it all for these 'shinys. Four Hofstra University students, who all had scholarsips and bright futures, have thrown it all away for a short term gain. "Find my iPad" saves the day again. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/colonial/2012/11/30/4-hofstra-basketball-players-charged-in-burglaries/1737957/
6. Re:its amusing by unkiereamus · 2012-11-30 20:49 · Score: 1
  
  I'm honestly not trying to make a mother's basement joke here, but seriously, how much of a shut in are you, that you've only seen three iPads in the wild?
  
  I'm virtually a hermit, and I see three uniques a week, easy.
  
  And before you ask, no, I don't live in Cupertino, I live in New Mexico (and not Los Alamos, either), which is 47th in the country by GDP per capita.
  
  I don't own one, I don't want one, and I'm very much not in their target demographic, and it's blindingly obvious that all of that is true of you as well, but the things are popular, massively so, and refusing to acknowledge that by making snide, derogatory comments that just flat out deny reality makes you look like either a) a zealot who is frothing at his mouth, 2) a blithering idiot or III) someone who lives in a shack in the woods and hasn't been in the same room as another human being in 10 years.
  
  My money's on 1), but for all I know it could be C), your written presentation aside, I genuinely don't believe it's II).
  
  --
  I needed a sig so people would know who I am, but I was too drunk to make something witty, so you get this instead.
7. Re:its amusing by Hognoxious · 2012-11-30 23:37 · Score: 1
  
  should he speak retard
  
  Like using a singular article (a) with a plural noun (people)?
  It should be "it's just [some] toy people" or "it's a toy person".
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
8. Re:its amusing by Hognoxious · 2012-11-30 23:39 · Score: 1
  
  It is just a toy, yet people insist on risking it all for these 'shinys.
  
  Worst apostrophe EVER.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
9. Re:its amusing by SternisheFan · 2012-12-01 00:47 · Score: 1
  
  It is just a toy, yet people insist on risking it all for these 'shinys.
  Worst apostrophe EVER.
  It was meant to be 'shinys' . Critique accepted though.
  Man, once you hit that "submit" button on /. , there's no going back. :-(
10. Re:its amusing by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 02:22 · Score: 0
  
  its just a toy people
  its just a toy, people
  people, [the ipad] is just a toy
11. Re: its amusing by paimin · 2012-12-01 04:36 · Score: 1
  
  English would be a start.
  
  --
  Facebook is the new AOL
12. Re: its amusing by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 08:21 · Score: 0
  
  No. He said he had seen plenty of PHONES.
13. Re:its amusing by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 19:24 · Score: 0
  
  Just drive a car around any city. People risk their lives everyday just to get across the road to the coffee shop 10 seconds earlier.
Making of a horror movie. by formfeed · 2012-11-30 17:44 · Score: 5, Funny

You wake up in a bathtub filled with ice, an ipad in your hand.
1. Re:Making of a horror movie. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 18:08 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  pick up ice
2. Re:Making of a horror movie. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 18:46 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  That's cold! You put the ice back.
3. Re:Making of a horror movie. by gagol · 2012-11-30 19:07 · Score: 1
  
  Justified had an episode similar to that.
  
  --
  Tomorrow is another day...
4. Re:Making of a horror movie. by Lord+Maud'Dib · 2012-11-30 19:37 · Score: 1
  
  Look in pocket. Take analgesic.
5. Re:Making of a horror movie. by SternisheFan · 2012-11-30 21:09 · Score: 2
  
  Your head clears a bit. Too bad it's going to be the last day of your life.
  Take towel.
6. Re:Making of a horror movie. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 22:51 · Score: 0
  
  dry me with towel
7. Re:Making of a horror movie. by Wolfrider · 2012-12-01 07:46 · Score: 1
  
  There is a grue under the towel.
  You have been eaten by a grue.
  The grue takes your iPad and sells it on eBay. No respawn for you, lol.
  GAME OVER, man!! Game over!
  
  --
  .
  == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
8. Re:Making of a horror movie. by Lord+Maud'Dib · 2012-12-01 13:21 · Score: 1
  
  Tell me... are you the male or the female of your species? Either way... You Lose!
9. Re:Making of a horror movie. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 15:53 · Score: 0
  
  You don't see that here.
/., the Enquirer For Geeks by Press2ToContinue · 2012-11-30 18:00 · Score: 0, Troll

Why buy the Enquirer? Read all your Mardi-Gras-Beads-On-Mars and Kidney-For-iPad articles right here!

There's an iPad involved, so this must be geek news (rolls eyes)

--
Sent from my ENIAC
1. Re:/., the Enquirer For Geeks by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 19:39 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  who modded this up? it's late at night here in the us where slashdot editors live. sure, this isn't exactly the most exciting story in the world, but it's an interesting read and is related to technology in the sense that it portrays the lengths some people will go to to get their hands on hot tech products.
  isn't this something slashdotters love to mock? down with consumerism and all that (while they themselves are buying gadgets faster than ever, of course ...)? i would think this'd be exactly the sort of story slashdotters would love.
2. Re:/., the Enquirer For Geeks by Press2ToContinue · 2012-12-01 05:55 · Score: 1
  
  We hold here in high esteem the opines of anonymous cowards. Please forgive me, I must have been so wrong to attempt to point out the similarity between this erstwhile article and those championed by the esteemed tabloids to which you subscribe. You're right, this article literally screams /., because it take so little expertise to jump right into the fray and with deep emotional conviction make some bullshit up and enlighten the world with the searing light that powers your blinding insight. Again, forgive me, and allow me to stand down to make way for your in-depth analysis of this game-changing technological discovery.
  
  Proceed.</end-sarcasm>
  
  --
  Sent from my ENIAC
Can't wait for the SuperBowl... by Genda · 2012-11-30 18:16 · Score: 1

To see Apple's new iPad commercial.... A Chinese boy stripped to the waste rocking out to the latest iTunes on his iPad with a huge scar over his left hip. The captions reads "IT WAS WORTH IT!!!
Misleading title.. by David_Hart · 2012-11-30 18:18 · Score: 5, Informative

If you RTFA, you will find that the donor was paid in cash. He then took this cash and bought an iPhone and an iPad. "Wang was given 22,000 yuan (US$3,529) and he bought an iPhone and an iPad with the money."
But.... don't let the facts get in the way of a good PR title....
1. Re:Misleading title.. by Squiddie · 2012-11-30 18:47 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Doesn't change the fact that he sold his kidney so he could buy those items.
2. Re:Misleading title.. by TheRaven64 · 2012-12-01 02:33 · Score: 1
  
  The headline implies he got an iPad, but in fact he got an iPad and an iPhone!
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
3. Re:Misleading title.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 04:22 · Score: 0
  
  The article doesn't include ANY information saying that pining after an iPad is what drove him to this. As far as we know it might have just been the cash. He did end up buying an iPad and an iPhone. Most of us are smart enough to understand that "correlation does not imply causation".
4. Re:Misleading title.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 13:33 · Score: 0
  
  Damn, he should have gone with an SIII or at least a Nexus 4.
5. Re:Misleading title.. by DirtyLiar · 2012-12-07 06:42 · Score: 1
  
  The headline implies he got an iPad, but in fact he got an iPad and an iPhone!
  Phew! I was worried they took advantage of him for a moment there!
  
  --
  THINK! It's patriotic
Microsoft is screwed by MightyMartian · 2012-11-30 18:26 · Score: 1

They can't even buy a kidney with a Surface tablet.

--
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
So you mean to tell me by kiriath · 2012-11-30 19:11 · Score: 1

All I had to do to get an iPad was sell my Kidney?
I wonder how long I could live off of selling all my organs?
1. Re:So you mean to tell me by gagol · 2012-11-30 19:16 · Score: 1
  
  I would recommend drug testing. Safer, legal and non taxable IIRC. Me, I will keep my health, thank you.
  
  --
  Tomorrow is another day...
2. Re:So you mean to tell me by SternisheFan · 2012-11-30 23:42 · Score: 1
  
  Does the iPad come with a smartcover? Might be worth a kidney or two then... :-O
Always wondered... by flimflammer · 2012-11-30 19:17 · Score: 3, Insightful

What is the reasoning behind it being illegal to sell your non-vital organs? Is it to prevent people from being coerced into it under the guise of a legitimate transaction? Some weird pseudo prostitution thing about "selling your body"? Purely moral taboo?
Always wondered why this was the case. You'd think if this venue was opened up, there would be more organs going where they are needed without requiring the donor first have a nasty case of death.
1. Re:Always wondered... by Lord+Maud'Dib · 2012-11-30 19:39 · Score: 1
  
  Non-vital, lol!
2. Re:Always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 19:42 · Score: 0
  
  If the playing field were level, it would probably be fine. But let's face it, the playing field is about as uneven as it can get before the losing team decides that shit is so crooked that it would completely tear up the field if they weren't too busy watching reruns of Friends. Right now, the vast majority of the people selling their organs would be poor schmucks doing it to score an ounce of happiness, and occasionally one guy using it to fund some great idea that he had that would actually take off and change the world, or at least finance a lifetime's worth of happiness.
  I'm all for a free market, but at this point, such an endeavour would just lead to more suffering and exploitation. Humanity needs to progress beyond where we're at now before we can honestly implement something like this.
3. Re:Always wondered... by Stickerboy · 2012-11-30 19:48 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  What is the reasoning behind it being illegal to sell your non-vital organs? Is it to prevent people from being coerced into it under the guise of a legitimate transaction? Some weird pseudo prostitution thing about "selling your body"? Purely moral taboo?
  Always wondered why this was the case. You'd think if this venue was opened up, there would be more organs going where they are needed without requiring the donor first have a nasty case of death.
  First: kidneys are vital organs. Just because the human body has a built-in redundancy does not make it any less necessary to live. Some people, depending on their preexisting health, won't be able to tolerate the removal of a kidney either without taking a significant hit to their kidney function.
  Second: opening the marketplace for donor human organs to profit motives is a bad idea all around. But, if you can solve the human conditions of corruption, avarice and socioeconomic inequality than yes, it might be workable.
  By the time a workable profiteering model for selling organs is adopted, we'll be growing MHC-matched replacement organs in the lab.
  
  --
  Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
4. Re:Always wondered... by phantomfive · 2012-11-30 20:05 · Score: 1
  
  I think it's because the people who are willing to sell them rarely understand the consequences of doing so. Like this guy, there is no way on earth that a kidney is worth an iPad and an iPhone. It's not even worth a Windows8 phone!
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
5. Re:Always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 20:07 · Score: 0
  
  Because it is a huge problem in China at the moment. I remember reading an article a while back in a Chinese newspaper where outside visitors were waking up in their hotel rooms with no memories of their last two days, stitches in their side, and an envelope full of money. They say they were drugged but the police point to the money and say they sold their organs.
6. Re:Always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 20:31 · Score: 0
  
  People rarely understand the consequences of donating blood for that matter. I've seen it happen a lot where someone donates blood then goes almost immediately to a physically stressful task like manual labor. Most cases of this just wind up with the person passing out or otherwise temporarily incapacitated, but organs a whole different story.
7. Re:Always wondered... by artor3 · 2012-11-30 20:45 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Because it's an incredibly foolish thing to do, and anyone entering into such a deal is being exploited. And unlike some cases of exploitation, such as payday loans, there's no going back on this one. This kid was just seventeen, and he was tricked into a transaction that will negatively impact him for the rest of his life. It's akin to selling highly addictive drugs. You can talk about free markets and rational self-interest all you want, but in the real world, people make mistakes. We should protect each other from making mistakes that one can never recover from.
8. Re:Always wondered... by deburg · 2012-11-30 20:45 · Score: 1
  
  there is no way on earth that a kidney is worth an iPad and an iPhone.
  You saying the kidney is worth less than the iPad/iPhone? (GRIN)
  Anyway, the case happened some time ago, so I bet the kid's crying now for the new model ipad/iphone.
9. Re:Always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 21:16 · Score: 0
  
  Normally if you "sell" your body you still have it afterwards. Not in this case, a part is gone. It's more like slavery.
  A lot of poor people will see not other solution then to sell some parts. Get used to sotries like: Poor women in Kambodcha sells left arm to feed her daughter.
  And why stop at non-vital/barely-vital parts? Better to sell all your organs and let the profit go to your family before commiting suicide.
10. Re:Always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 00:16 · Score: 0
  
  " opening the marketplace for donor human organs to profit motives is a bad idea all around. But, if you can solve the human conditions of corruption, avarice and socioeconomic inequality than yes, it might be workable."
  There is less corruption involved when you allow the market to flourish (hint: black markets breeds corruption). Socioeconomic inequality is not a problem.
  I always wonder how people who do zero economic analysis proclaim that it is a bad idea. By the time a workable profiteering model for selling organs, that would satisfy people who just think it's a bad idea is adopted - and we will be already growing replacement organs in the lab, many thousands of people will have died. Just because you think it's a bad idea.
11. Re:Always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 00:18 · Score: 0
  
  What would you have said if he donated the kidney for free just to help the other being? Wouldn't THAT be outrageous?
12. Re:Always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 00:28 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, but you forgot the benefit of everyone who needs an organ transplant getting an organ transplant.
13. Re:Always wondered... by rollingcalf · 2012-12-01 00:53 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  "What is the reasoning behind it being illegal to sell your non-vital organs? Is it to prevent people from being coerced into it under the guise of a legitimate transaction?"
  Years ago in India when selling kidneys was legal, many people actually were coerced into selling their kidneys. Sometimes the coercion was by family members, other times by the kidney brokers who would get a cut of the transaction.
  This particular case is aggravated by the age of the donor (seller), a 17 year old minor.
  "Always wondered why this was the case. You'd think if this venue was opened up, there would be more organs going where they are needed without requiring the donor first have a nasty case of death."
  Or it could actually decrease the available supply if people who would have otherwise donated out of kindness start demanding more and more money, making the transplants more unaffordable. And some people staying out of it altogether because they're disgusted with the coercion and corruption.
  
  --
  ---------
  There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
14. Re:Always wondered... by boneglorious · 2012-12-01 01:33 · Score: 1
  
  You mean every rich one who needs an organ transplant getting an organ transplant. That's why the playing field is so uneven: it would be a direct transfer of health to the wealthy.
  
  --
  Can I mod something +1 Scary if it's true but I wish it weren't?
15. Re:Always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 02:25 · Score: 0
  
  You didn't really answer the question. Why do we have the right to limit what people can do with their own bodies? It's as if society says we have a better claim to control other people's bodies than the actual people. Whatever happened to "consensual acts between adults"?
16. Re:Always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 02:30 · Score: 0
  
  I think it's because the people who are willing to sell them rarely understand the consequences of doing so.
  Never let another man be free as long as you know better than him.
17. Re:Always wondered... by SternisheFan · 2012-12-01 09:12 · Score: 1
  
  Donating blood is a very safe (and selfless) act to do. There are stories of men and women who've donated every month, and even more often. Just don't go and do extreme anything for a day or so.
18. Re:Always wondered... by luther349 · 2012-12-01 09:55 · Score: 1
  
  if we let people sell body parts don't be surprised if someone kills you just to take everything to sell it. we would be talking millions of dollars hear.
19. Re:Always wondered... by stymy · 2012-12-02 14:48 · Score: 1
  
  Indeed. Perhaps you should write a modest proposal.
Overpriced... by XeXeN · 2012-11-30 20:07 · Score: 1

I knew iPad's cost an arm and a leg, but now a kidney? Apple has gone to far...
1. Re:Overpriced... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 21:29 · Score: 0
  
  iPad's what?
That's nothing. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-11-30 22:39 · Score: 0

I sold two kidneys to put myself through college. It's easy to slip someone a mickey in a frat house.
1. Re:That's nothing. by Hognoxious · 2012-11-30 23:46 · Score: 1
  
  That's like the time I broke three ribs playing Rugby, but still completed the game. Hurt? By the look on his face, I'd say so!
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
2. Re:That's nothing. by SternisheFan · 2012-12-01 00:57 · Score: 1
  
  Hey, it is not a joke for some. When I was a kid, 'Coma' was just a scary movie, a work of fiction about a creepy organ harvesting hospital. Today, bodies are found missing body parts in different parts of the world, some people truly are 'ghouls'. Human life is cheap to some if profit$ involved. Some scary shit.
3. Re:That's nothing. by luther349 · 2012-12-01 09:59 · Score: 1
  
  body parts in the black market go for at least a quarter million. i have seen story's of that. the poor kid should have gotten much more then some apple junk.
Why is it illegal? by Antique+Geekmeister · 2012-12-01 00:49 · Score: 1, Interesting

Once the business of organ farming starts, China is facing an enormous market for healthy, young organs and an aging population that needs them around the world. It's much simpler to simply outlaw, outright, than to start trying to manage and regulate such a business.
1. Re:Why is it illegal? by SternisheFan · 2012-12-01 01:29 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, but once you outlaw something there's a need for, you create an illegal market for it, like alcohol prohibition. Growing organs from stem cells isn't viable yet, if it ever will be. Jeez, we've got college educated doctors involved in the organ black market over the last decade. Lots of old rich people who can't face dying naturally will pay, no questions asked, if it buys them a little more time. I don't see any easy solution here, not with easy big money to lure the young and ignorant with.
2. Re:Why is it illegal? by drinkypoo · 2012-12-01 01:54 · Score: 1
  
  Once the business of organ farming starts
  You're not paying attention. When China executes someone, and they admit to executing ten times as many people as the USA per capita, not just overall (!) they pack them into a truck where they are lethally injected (search "chinese death van") and their family never sees their body again. If there's any reason to behave this way other than organlegging, I don't know what it is.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Not sustainable by foma84 · 2012-12-01 01:40 · Score: 1

All moral concerns aside, it is also not sustainable.
If you sell a kidney in your youth, you will probably have kidney problems further in life and need a kidney transplant, in addition to all the other cases not related with early donation.
The demand will be higher than supply in a matter of decades.
THE COMING HARVEST by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-01 01:58 · Score: 0

Just like the illegal market for sexual powders in China, which has fueled the illegal poaching of all kinds of animals around the world just to grind up their teeth, tusks, testicles, etc into fake "medicines", likewise the same thing will happen for organs. The huge demand in China for illegal organs means that people around the world will wake up in ice-filled bathtubs to find their organs missing and shipped off to China.
they will just take them from people in prison / j by Joe_Dragon · 2012-12-01 03:14 · Score: 2

they will just take them from people in prison / jails then or maybe just people on death row.
The kid was lucky by Megahard · 2012-12-01 05:01 · Score: 1

They could easily have made a tragic mistake, since his name is Wang.

--
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
1. Re:The kid was lucky by Spy+Handler · 2012-12-01 07:07 · Score: 1
  
  They could've harvested his Wang minicomputer?
2. Re:The kid was lucky by Lord+Maud'Dib · 2012-12-01 13:24 · Score: 1
  
  They didn't because... Wang cares!
But that's not even enough ... by danwiz · 2012-12-01 12:44 · Score: 1

But that's not even enough money to cover the RIAA damages for the first two songs he pirated!
5 years?... by SilverBlade2k · 2012-12-01 13:42 · Score: 1

Only 5 years? In surprised that they weren't executed, considering it's China.
5 years is nothing when the teen has to go through a lifetime of medical procedures...
He Wei? by MatrixCubed · 2012-12-03 01:32 · Score: 1

He *wei* over his head...