Man says he sold kidney in U.S. for $20k

:popcorn:

New York recipient says he was near death when Israeli man answered ad

"NEW YORK - In 2005, a rebellious and sporadically employed Israeli man flew to New York to give up a kidney to save an American businessman. For that, he says he was paid $20,000, which appeared in a brown envelope on his hospital bed after the operation. That payoff would be illegal.

But the kidney donor, 39-year-old Nick Rosen of Tel Aviv, says that doesn't matter. "I smoke pot. That's also against the law."

Rosen believes he did a good deed and that organ donors like him should be compensated. Much of his story can be confirmed, and the case gives new resonance to claims that a black market for kidneys has thrived even in the United States.

<snip>

"I was on death's doorstep," says Brad Gursky, a 51-year-old balding, beefy man whose left arm vein is thick and hardened from years of intravenous dialysis treatments.

Gursky confirms much of Rosen's story — except for the $20,000 payment. "It's an embellishment," he said in an interview on his front porch in Woodbury, a suburb on Long Island..."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32464069/ns/health-health_care/

And the rest of the story...

That money can buy.

$50,000 is the going rate.

sell a kidney.

I could not immagine selling one for anything less than a hundred grand.