Chinese Teen Sells Kidney for iPhone

(Changsha, China)

Five people in south China face charges of illegal trading of a kidney from a teenager who bought an iPhone and an iPad with the earnings, local authorities said Friday.

The five, including a surgeon, were charged with intentional injury, the people's procuratorate in Chenzhou city in Hunan province said in a statement.

Defendant He Wei, who was penniless and frustrated over gambling debts, sought to make enormous earnings through illegal kidney trading, according to the agency.

He asked Yin Shen to look for donors through online chat rooms and Tang Shimin to lease an operating room from Su Kaizong, the contractor of a local hospital's urology department, it stated.

Song Zhongyu, a surgeon from a provincial hospital in Yunnan province, conducted the kidney transplant from a 17-year-old high school student from Anhui province, surnamed Wang, to a recipient in April last year.

He received about 220,000 yuan (35,000 U.S. dollars) for the activity and gave Wang 22,000 yuan. He, the other four defendants and several other medical staff involved in the transplant shared the remaining earnings.

Reportedly, Wang's other kidney isn't doing its job and his condition is deteriorating.