Don't sell your own organs and don't help anyone find a donor: a kidney that earns the seller just over 20,000 CNY is resold for 200,000 CNY, and the money is confiscated and a fine of 10 to 20 times the transaction amount is imposed

Cost

Free, and it takes no time; just don't do it.

What you get

Article 5 of the Regulations on Human Organ Donation and Transplantation (《人体器官捐献和移植条例》): "No organization or individual may buy or sell human organs in any form, or engage in activities related to buying and selling human organs." Article 10: "No organization or individual may obtain a living organ from a citizen under the age of 18 for transplantation." Article 11: "The recipient of a living organ is limited to the donor's spouse, direct blood relatives or collateral blood relatives within three generations." Article 37 sets the penalties for buying and selling human organs. Buying or selling human organs, or engaging in related activities, is investigated and punished by the health department of the local people's government at county level or above. First the illegal gains are confiscated, taking back all the money from the deal. Then a fine of 10 to 20 times the transaction amount is imposed. Where medical staff take part, their practice certificates are revoked and they are barred for life from medical and health services. Where it amounts to a crime, criminal liability is pursued according to law (China, in effect since May 1, 2024, replacing the former Regulations on Human Organ Transplantation (《人体器官移植条例》)). Criminal Law (刑法) Article 234-1: "Whoever organizes others to sell human organs is sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of up to 5 years and a fine; if the circumstances are serious, to fixed-term imprisonment of 5 years or more and a fine or confiscation of property." There are three more situations, convicted and punished under Criminal Law Articles 234 and 232. One is removing someone's organ without his consent. Two is removing an organ from a person under 18. Three is forcing or deceiving someone into donating an organ. These are handled as intentional injury and intentional homicide. Case 1: the case of Zheng Wei (郑伟) and 14 others, finally decided by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court (北京市第一中级人民法院) on August 20, 2014, involved 51 kidneys and a sum of more than 10,340,000 (1034万余) CNY. The sellers (donors) "got in exchange only a payment of 20,000 to 25,000 CNY" (2万到2.5万). The price from the patients waiting for kidneys (the recipient side) "used to be 180,000 or 190,000 CNY per kidney, and later 210,000 or 220,000 CNY" (18万或19万, 21万或22万). The removal site was a four-story building rented at 7,500 CNY a month, which the gang's head nurse said was "filthy and messy, without even resuscitation equipment." The organizer Zheng Wei was sentenced to 12 years of fixed-term imprisonment for the crime of organizing others to sell human organs (组织出卖人体器官罪), and the other 14 got 3 and a half to 9 years. Case 2: the "teenager sells a kidney to buy an iPhone" case published by the Supreme People's Procuratorate. On the evening of April 28, 2011, in Chenzhou, 17-year-old Wang Mou (王某) had his right kidney removed. The operation was done in a department contracted out to individuals inside a hospital with no transplant qualification. When he left the hospital on May 2 he received 22,000 CNY (2.2万), while the recipient side paid the broker 150,000 CNY (15万) and 10,000 US dollars (1万美元), and the main offender profited by more than 56,000 CNY (5.6万余). After the operation Wang had renal insufficiency, and "his injury amounted to a serious injury and a level-3 disability"

Notes

The beneficiary is you. On the surface the deal is "20,000 in one payment," but in fact it is an organ traded for a phone. The forensic conclusion in the teenage kidney-sale case was a serious injury and a level-3 disability, which a few months of rest does not cure. In that case the prosecutors found that the 5 defendants violated Criminal Law Article 234, paragraph 2, and prosecuted them for intentional injury. One reason was that the medical staff removed the right kidney without first checking whether the "donor" was a minor. If the same thing happened today, the one recruiting people would be handled under the crime of organizing others to sell human organs, and removing an organ from a person under 18 is still convicted and punished under Article 234 as intentional injury. Operations by black-market brokers are done in rented rooms or borrowed premises, with no assessment beyond matching, no follow-up after the operation, and no one to answer when complications arise. If you really want to donate to a relative, take the route in Article 11: at a medical institution with transplant qualification, after review by an ethics committee, with no money changing hands at any point. Donation of organs from the body after death is free of charge and is outside this item. For what removing a kidney costs your body, see §1.35 (the one remaining kidney does the work of two). If you are short of money to the point of considering selling an organ, first look at the assistance channels in §7 (unemployment insurance, temporary assistance, the minimum living allowance (低保)). For the traps of online loans and "packaged documents" loans, see §9.6.

Evidence grade

A : Specific numbers from meta-analyses, large cohorts or randomized trials; for law and policy, the statute or official text.

Sources

1. 国务院 (2023). 人体器官捐献和移植条例（国务院令第 767 号，第五、十、十一、三十七条）. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202312/content_6920196.htm
2. 全国人大常委会. 中华人民共和国刑法（经刑法修正案十一修正的整合文本）第二百三十四条之一. https://flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=ff808181796a636a0179822a19640c92
3. 最高人民检察院 (2012-04-09). 「少年卖肾买苹果手机」案诉至法院. https://www.spp.gov.cn/gs/201204/t20120409_34342.shtml
4. 河北省廊坊市中级人民法院官网转载 (2014-09-02). 全国最大贩肾案终审 组织者摘肾 51 枚获利千万. https://lfzy.hebeicourt.gov.cn/article/detail/2014/09/id/1430881.shtml

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 9, tip 22. This section describes legal rules, mostly mainland China’s. It is general information, not legal advice; for your own case, talk to a lawyer. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer