The trial of nine people charged in a case involving a teenager who sold his kidney to purchase an iPad and iPhone concluded in a Chinese court on Friday, according to state media.
The defendants included the surgeon who allegedly removed the kidney from the 17-year-old, identified only by his surname, Wang, and eight others who are accused of helping to plan and carry out the scheme.
The verdict would be announced at a later date, state-run Xinhua reported.
Prosecutors in the Beihu District of Chenzhou, Hunan Province, have accused defendant He Wei of arranging the transplant last year via Internet chat rooms. He was described by Xinhua as "penniless and frustrated over gambling debts."
The doctor, Song Zhongyu, from a provincial hospital in Yunan province, allegedly transplanted Wang’s kidney to a recipient in April 2012, Xinhua said. Wang later suffered renal failure, the report said.
The defendant He earned a little under $9,000 in the deal, Xinhua said. Another defendant, Su Kaizong, the contractor of the urology department of the hospital, earned around $9,500; Song, the surgeon, earned a little over $8,000; and other defendants involved in the scheme earned lesser amounts, Xinhua said.
Wang, the young patient, was given around $3,500 upon leaving the hospital.
The incident came to light after Wang returned home and his mother demanded to know where he got the money to pay for an iPhone and iPad, Xinhua said. At that point, Wang confessed.
Among the others arrested were two nurses, a surgical assistant and an anesthesiologist, Xinhua said.
TXT 24
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