A teenager that sold his kidney so he could buy an expensive iPhone has been left bedridden for life after he ended up suffering renal deficiency.

Wang Shankun was just 17 when he decided to sell the viral organ on the black market.

He received an equivalent of $3,200 at the time.

The teenager, whose family was living in one of the poorest provinces of China, wanted to buy an expensive Apple device but did not have money to buy one.

One day, the boy was using the internet and he ended up receiving a message from an organ harvester in an online chatroom.

He was told that he could get 20,000 yuan ($3,000) for selling the organ.

During an interview with a news agency in China, Shangkun said that he underwent the illegal surgery in the central Hunan province.

The surgery was done to have his right kidney removed and it was delivered to an unknown recipient.

The surgery was reportedly carried out by two doctors who were also employed at local hospitals.

At the time, the teen was convinced that a human only needs one kidney to function properly.

He ended up using the money to buy an iPad 2 and an iPhone 4.

He returned to his house with new devices, and his mother knew right away that he had done something wrong.

The mother said that time:

When my son came home he had a laptop computer and an Apple phone. I asked him where all the money for that came from. When he couldn’t keep it to himself any longer he finally told us. He said, ‘Mum, I sold my kidney.’ When he told me I felt like the sky was crashing down on our family.

After details of the incident emerged on the internet, 9 people that were involved in the operation were arrested.

5 people were charged with intentional injury and organ trading.

The surgeon, the broker, the person that leased the operating room, and the people that got the boy to sell his kidney were charged.

Shangkun, who is now in his mid-20s, developed an infection in the left kidney that he only has.

The doctors believe that the infection was caused by the unsanitary location of the operation and the lack of post-operative care that he was given.

The boy ended up suffering renal deficiency, and his condition was so severe that he ended up being bedridden.

He currently needs to undergo dialysis in order to clear his blood of toxins.

His one kidney could not handle the toxins anymore.

It was also reported that the boy and his family were awarded about $300,000 in compensation for the incident.

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