It's one thing to wait in line forever just to get your hands on Apple's latest and greatest. It's a whole different story to sell your own kidney so you can afford them.
A 17-year-old boy in the Anhui province in China sold his kidney for 22,000 yuan ($3,400), so that he could then go out and purchase an iPad 2. He got the idea from an online advertisement offering cash to anyone prepared to become an organ donor, according to The Telegraph. He has expressed regret over his actions, saying his health had deteriorated ever since his kidney was removed.
"I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it," the boy surnamed Zheng told Shenzhen TV. "A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan." Trading organs online is a common practice in China, despite the Chinese government's attempts to stamp out the practice.
The child and broker arranged the procedure without his parents knowing, and he underwent surgery at a Chenzhou hospital in the neighboring Hunan province. His mother forced him to explain how he was able to afford the Apple products (multiple reports said he bought more than one) when he returned home with three days later, and she notified the police immediately. They have been unable to contact the three men as all their mobile phones were turned off.
"When he came back, he had a laptop and a new Apple handset," his mother said. "I wanted to know how he had got so much money and he finally confessed that he had sold one of his kidneys."
To make matters worse, it turns out that the hospital at which the surgery took place was not qualified to perform the procedure. The administration claims it was not aware of what was happening because the urology department that performed the surgery was contracted to a Fujian businessman.
Last month, we reported how Apple is similar to a religion. UK neuroscientists found that Apple imagery activates the same parts of the brain in Apple fanboys that religious imagery does in followers of that religion.