Doctor to ex-wife: Give me my kidney back
Article from: NEWS.com.au
January 08, 2009 10:00am
A DOCTOR who donated his kidney to his wife in 2001 now wants it back because she cheated on him and has filed for divorce.
He says its the organ or $US1.5 million ($2.1 million).
New York Daily News reports Richard Batista, a surgeon from Long Island in New York, gave his kidney to his wife Dawnell after two previous transplants failed. The website reports the odds of him being a match are 700,000 to 1.
Dr Batista told New York Daily News there is no value you can put on an organ when it saves someones life. There is no greater feeling on this planet.
He says he is only suing Dawnell to get to her act reasonably in the divorce case, claiming she is restricting access to their children, aged 8, 11 and 14.
"She slapped me with divorce papers when I was in surgery trying to save another person's life," he told the newspaper.
"He says he is only suing Dawnell to get to her act reasonably in the divorce case, claiming she is restricting access to their children." I'd play the highest cards ...
Dr Batista told News Day his wife's medical problems had strained their marriage.
"My first priority was to save her life. The second bonus was to turn the marriage around."
It didn't last, and four years later she filed for divorce.
Arthur Caplan from the University of Pennsylvanias Centre for Bioethics told News Day the likelihood of Dr Batista getting either his kidney or the money was somewhere between impossible and completely impossible.
Medical ethicist Robert Veatch from Georgetown University also told News Day its illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value. He said organ donation is a gift which means you can't legally get it back.
"Its her kidney now and taking the kidney out would mean she would have to go on dialysis or it would kill her, he said.
He said no reputable surgeon would do it and no court could compel someone to undergo an operation.
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