Jan 8, 2009 6:36 am US/Eastern
N.Y. Doctor Demands Wife Give Back Donated Kidney
Dr. Richard Batista Claims Wife Dawnell Had An Affair; He Wants Organ Returned Or $1.5 Million In Compensation
MASSAPEQUA (CBS) ―
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Dr. Richard Batista is demanding his wife either return the kidney he donated to her or pay him $1.5 million.
CBS
A New York doctor is demanding that his estranged wife pay him $1.5 million to compensate him for the kidney he gave her.
The doctor, who is now involved in a messy divorce, has hired a high profile lawyer.
"As part of the litigation, we are asking for the value of the kidney that he gave his wife," attorney Dominic Barbara said. "In theory we actually asked for the return of the kidney."
Richard Batista, a Cornell graduate, is a prominent Long Island vascular surgeon, father of three and married to a nurse. But when his wife, Dawnell, went into renal failure in 2001, Batista stepped up.
"She was my wife. My priority was to save her life, save her life and future of our children and hopefully with that in mind keep the marriage alive," Dr. Batista said.
Batista said he was one of only 700,000 whose kidney was a match.
"When I donated … the next day on my feet going down hallway to visit her in adjoining room, there was no greater feeling on this planet as God is my witness, felt I could put my arm around Jesus Christ," Batista said. "[It was] unbelievable. I was walking on a cloud. I did the right thing for her to this day. I could still do it again."
Now that story of risk and sacrifice has taken on a sensational twist, with the doctor demanding his kidney back or $1.5 million in compensation after he claims his wife had an affair and sent him packing from their million dollar Massapequa home.
"There is no deeper pain you can ever express than betrayal from someone who you loved and devoted your whole life to," Batista said.
The doctor works at Nassau University Medical Center, and claims he's suing for the kidney because his wife is denying him contact with their children, and is shutting him out of their lives.
"I saved her life," Batista said. "This divorce is killing me."
So far wife Dawnell Batista has not publicly commented, her attorney said. Doctors CBS 2 HD spoke with said such an operation is unethical and nearly impossible.
Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics reports it's illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value. Organs in the United States may not be bought or sold.
Donating an organ is considered a gift.
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