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Charges Filed After Chinese Teenager Sells Kidney to Purchase iPhone and iPad

What's the point of this article?

Apple should stop making good products so people won't die trying to sell their organs to afford Apple products. [sarcasm]
 
miknos said:
What's the point of this article?

Apple should stop making good products so people won't die trying to sell their organs to afford Apple products. [sarcasm]
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The real solution is for Apple to set their price points lower so they are affordable for everyone.
 
For a moment I thought someone was suing Apple for this, and I was like WTH??? :D

Dumb teenager doesn't value his kidneys... There's a reason why everyone has two of them.

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lucasmonger said:
Most Americans don't know the life of a typical Chinese resident. When there are billions of people and few jobs, the value of human life isn't quite the same as here in the US. There are literally millions of sad stories like where a parent moves to another city for work and doesn't see his wife and kids for 10+ years all the while sending money home to feed the family. There use to be a practice that people would sell there sons to wealthy families who only had daughters in order to carry on the family name. When you have that many people who are that desperate, it's not surprising to have an over-the-top event like this. For a few days or weeks, that teenager was on top of the world in his circle of friends as the proud owner the most sought-after devices on the planet. Maybe in his eyes, it was worth it. So next time you're driving down the street in your luxury automobile drinking at $5 cup of coffee, maybe we should consider simplifying our lives a little, not act so greedy (contrary to Gordon Gekko's Greed is Good speech) and help others in the world who are desperately in need.
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Cubans live on the equivalent to $6.00 a month...
 
Fair trade. Apparently the kid's kidney overheats and the recipient is always going to have a fever.

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bawbac said:
The real solution is for Apple to set their price points lower so they are affordable for everyone.
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The real solution is apple should have a student barter program where kids can trade organs directly to apple for MacBook airs, iPads and iPhones.
 
Remember years ago when the Mini and then the Nanos came out that one day, we'd get iPods implanted into our bodies.

Well this is as close as we're gonna get until then.
 
Xtal said:
I thought one kidney is all you need. How do they prevent legitimate kidney donors from becoming renally deficient?
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One kidney IS enough, but not for EVERYONE. In order for people to legitimately donate a kidney, the doctor has to do extensive tests on the person to see if their health will change with just one kidney.

Kids in China probably need two kidneys anyway because of all the poison they're being fed through Chinese invention of food out of stuff like melamine. SO yeah....
 
bawbac said:
The real solution is for Apple to set their price points lower so they are affordable for everyone.
Click to expand...

Last I heard, you're not entitled to just have things you can't afford, and we don't go around the world to find the poorest people and set prices by that.

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zeromeus said:
One kidney IS enough, but not for EVERYONE. In order for people to legitimately donate a kidney, the doctor has to do extensive tests on the person to see if their health will change with just one kidney.

Kids in China probably need two kidneys anyway because of all the poison they're being fed through Chinese invention of food out of stuff like melamine. SO yeah....
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As opposed to the fine pink slime and other garbage that has turned us Americans into the healthy, obesity-ridden pigs we are now?
 
It is known by human rights organizations that the Chinese government routinely takes organs from prisoners, including political prisoners, without consent for wealthy clients.

As for the kid- where were his family, his community to reason with him? I'm sure Jobs would have given up all his wealth and iDevices for a chance at longer, quality life. This kid just threw it away for a gadget which will be obsolete in a few years. This is not normal behavior. There may even be a psychological issue here.

The surgeon and anyone else involved, of course, should be charged. But who prosecutes the Chinese government for its involuntary organ donations and human rights violations?
 
Shrink said:
First, if I misread your intention, I apologize.
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accepted :)

Shrink said:
As for the kid...you say there are all kinds of desperate people in the world. You are absolutely right. Desperate for food...desperate for health care...desperate for human rights...desperate for freedom of speech...desperate for crucial elements of life.

But desperate for an iPhone and an iPad?? Perhaps you are right that I can't understand their motivations (or perhaps I can, but that is a separate issue), but I can see behavior...and I stand by my comment that the behavior is startlingly stupid.

Perhaps my sarcasm was misplaced, but the the fundamental comment stands. This is not selling a kidney to feed his family, this is to buy some electronic stuff.

Pathetic, to say the least...

Incredibly stupid, IMO.
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I'm certainly not defending the idea of selling an organ to purchase consumer electronics. I don't disagree with your assessment of that as "stupid". I just feel like the story may include some truth and a lot of hype. As someone pointed out, even at the Chinese prices quoted, the iPhone and iPad would cost around half of the total that the kid was supposedly paid. I'm just saying there could be a lot that we don't know. The main motive could have been food, shelter, or something else and then he also bought an iPad and that became the story. Not defending that either, just saying I kinda feel bad for someone that desperate for anything to sell a kidney.
 
scoobydoo99 said:
accepted :)



I'm certainly not defending the idea of selling an organ to purchase consumer electronics. I don't disagree with your assessment of that as "stupid". I just feel like the story may include some truth and a lot of hype. As someone pointed out, even at the Chinese prices quoted, the iPhone and iPad would cost around half of the total that the kid was supposedly paid. I'm just saying there could be a lot that we don't know. The main motive could have been food, shelter, or something else and then he also bought an iPad and that became the story. Not defending that either, just saying I kinda feel bad for someone that desperate for anything to sell a kidney.
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You're evaluation of the accuracy of the story is undoubtedly correct - very questionable.

And I agree that feeling bad for the kid, stupidity or some other reason, is well placed.

To risk death to obtain some electronic devices certainly indicates a profound inability to anticipate the potential consequences of one's actions.
 
Macman1993 said:
I have no sympathy for this kid, when I was a teenager I knew enough to not sell my organs for apple products so he can hold himself to the same standard. He doesn't deserve to get on a public transplant list because he has no priority over those who lost their organs to real health issues that go beyond being a moron. If someone wants to donate / sell one to him than go for it but beyond that I don't think society has any responsibility to help people who clearly aren't worth helping and did the damage to themselves.
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I think it's pretty hasty to judge the case. As has been mentioned, he may have had underlying health problems or simply not sufficiently health kidneys for him to survive with one kidney [nb it's a fallacy to suggest that everyone could survive with only one kidney]. The consent procedure may have been limited and he could have been misled completely about the risks.

With respect to your upbringing, it is unlikely you were brought up into the same poverty as parts of China can be. Plus I seriously doubt that anyone has propositioned you to sell an organ for whatever reason. I can see myself donating organs in the future, and have even been scrubbed up in a transplant situation with an altruistic live donor.
 
A boy who puts a consumer product before his own health: a story on how stupid humans can be, and how mean (to take advantage of that stupidity).
 
How about taking part time jobs and not sell the kidney? Say 5 6 months doing a good job and you'll get yourself a nice iPhone and iPad, all without renal deficiency. Is that so hard to do?
 
scoobydoo99 said:
Read again. V-e-r-y slowly. I didn't say MacRumors was anti-Apple. I said they post "anti-Apple tidbits" to generate page views and clicks. They make money by pumping up site traffic. Nothing does that like posting anti-Apple stuff on a forum frequented by Apple fans. The trick is to do it while maintaining the "appearance" of neutrality. The story - dubious at best, outright fabrication at worst - obviously has nothing to do with Apple or Apple products. The intent was to bring out trolls who will villify Apple for creating and feeding a consumer culture that values iPads over human life.

P.S. - Assuming some kid DID sell a kidney for money, I can't believe how callous you can be to say those things. There are all kinds of desperate people in the world. Until you have endured their circumstances, you probably can't understand their motivations.
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Thank you!! Couldn't have said better myself. Its a damn shame people don't see the tragedy that it is. Desperation can bring anyone to their knees and it will make you do things you never thought possible.
 
faroZ06 said:
Their economy is actually starting to slow down, unsurprisingly.
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And by slowing down you mean still the fastest growing economy on the planet by far. China is only starting to show its growth. I'm not sure if you have ever visited China in the past 3 years, but I would seriously suggest everyone should vist. The wests view of China is shockingly out of date it. Their infrastructures within cities puts London, New York and any other capitals in the west to shame.

I'm not saying China is problem free, but today it is the land of opportunity. China has evolved beyond the sufistication concidered norm in the west.

Next time your late to work because of a traffic jam, or your on a tube system so expensive, crowded and outdated its dangerous, know China has evolved to solve many of these issues in their new cities such as Guangzhou. Think bullet trains traveling at 500 mph and streets with over 12 lanes of traffic.

The wests ignorance to China is shocking.
 
the read said:
And by slowing down you mean still the fastest growing economy on the planet by far. China is only starting to show its growth. I'm not sure if you have ever visited China in the past 3 years, but I would seriously suggest everyone should vist. The wests view of China is shockingly out of date it. Their infrastructures within cities puts London, New York and any other capitals in the west to shame.

I'm not saying China is problem free, but today it is the land of opportunity. China has evolved beyond the sufistication concidered norm in the west.

Next time your late to work because of a traffic jam, or your on a tube system so expensive, crowded and outdated its dangerous, know China has evolved to solve many of these issues in their new cities such as Guangzhou. Think bullet trains traveling at 500 mph and streets with over 12 lanes of traffic.

The wests ignorance to China is shocking.
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I do realize that, China has been shockingly made a great progress in the last decade. Their only mistake is having 1.35 billions of population. Make it half and China would have been #1 economy giant. Western countries should think about this fact.
 
You ignorant people

I read through 4 pages of comment, and maybe TWO of you had any idea or sympathy about how it is like being piss poor.
 
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