Kidney | featured news

Less than a week after the season finale, the health of winner Phillip Phillips remains at the center of the American Idol discussion. The 21-year-old singer underwent eight surgeries during his time on the series to treat a buildup of kidney stones. Caused by a congenital condition, the stones have rendered his right kidney largely ineffective, prompting him to temporarily rely on a stint and the need for an operation that would bring about a more permanent solution.

It turns out you can recycle just about anything these days - even kidneys and other organs donated for transplants. Recently in Chicago, in what is believed to be the first documented case of its kind in the U.S., a transplanted kidney that was failing was removed from a patient while he was still alive and given to somebody else.

Five people in China have been charged with intentional injury after a 17-year-old sold one of his kidneys to pay for an iPad and an iPhone, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Facebook and other social media sites are becoming a go-to place to find a person with a kidney to spare.

A New York man pleaded guilty Thursday to what experts said was the first ever proven case of black-market organ trafficking in the United States. Levy Izhak Rosenbaum admitted in federal court in Trenton that he had brokered three illegal kidney transplants from people in Israel for U.S.-based customers in exchange for payments of $120,000 or more. He also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to broker an illegal kidney sale.

His mother's suspicions were aroused when her son returned home with an iPad 2 and an iPhone, and Zheng, who was left with a deep red scar from the surgery, was forced to admit what he did. She took him back to Chenzhou to report the crime, but the contact numbers the kidney agents gave Zheng were not working.

"30 Rock" star Tracy Morgan is recovering from a kidney transplant. A statement released Monday by Morgan's publicist says Morgan is doing well and taking "much-needed time" to recover from the surgery earlier this month.

A two-year international inquiry has concluded that the prime minister of Kosovo led a clan of criminal entrepreneurs who presided over an organ-trafficking network that extracted kidneys from Serbian prisoners executed during the Kosovo conflict in 1999.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua died late on Wednesday aged 58 after a long battle with kidney and heart ailments, paving the way for Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to be sworn as leader of Africa's most populous nation.

Politicians long ago discovered the uses of Facebook. East Haven Mayor April Capone Almon found something else there: a constituent who needed her kidney.