US man wants kidney in divorce settlement

[altwight]

SOURCE: US man wants value of donated kidney in divorce settlement | World news | guardian.co.uk

New York doctor donated kidney to wife in 2001 and is now demanding an estimated $1.5m, attorney says

When his wife needed a kidney transplant, Dr Richard Batista gave her one of his, attorney Dominic Barbara said.

Now that Dawnell Batista has filed for a divorce, Richard Batista wants his kidney back as part of his settlement demand. Or, Barbara said today, his client wants the value of that kidney: An estimated $1.5m (£993,000).

The case is being heard in Supreme Court in Mineola, New York.

Barbara said his client, a 49-year-old doctor from Ronkonkoma who graduated from Cornell University Medical School in 1995, married Dawnell Batista on August 31 1990. The couple had three children, now ages 14, 11 and 8.

After she had two failed transplants, Barbara said, his client donated a kidney to his wife in an operation that took place at the University of Minnesota Medical Centre on June 18 2001. Richard Batista said his marriage at the time was on the rocks because of the strain of his wife's medical issues.

"My first priority was to save her life," Batista said at a news conference in Garden City. "The second bonus was to turn the marriage around."

Dawnell Batista, 44, of Massapequa, filed for divorce in July 2005, Barbara said.

Neither she nor her attorney, Douglas Rothkopf, of Garden City, could immediately be reached for comment. A receptionist at Rothkopf's office said he was in court.

Medical ethicists agreed that the case is a non-starter. Asked how likely it would be for the doctor to either get his kidney back or get money for it, Arthur Caplan at the University of Pennsylvania's Centre for Bioethics, put it as "somewhere between impossible and completely impossible".

First and foremost, said Robert Veatch, a medical ethicist at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics, "it's illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value". Organs in the US may not be bought or sold. Donating an organ is a gift and legally "when you give something, you can't get it back", he said.

"It's her kidney now and ... taking the kidney out would mean she would have to go on dialysis or it would kill her," Veatch said.

Nor can you assign a subsequent monetary value to an organ, Caplan said. "There's nothing later [you can get] in terms of compensation if you regret your gift," he said.

What's more, no reputable surgeon would perform such a transplant and no court could compel a person to undergo an operation, he said.

[MrW]

What an Indian giver!

[TheShadyMan]

Isn't it usually the woman trying to take an arm and a leg?

[Obev]

Hey, she broke his heart; only fair he wants another organ in return.

[Alistaire]

From his point of view, it's a pretty ass move of her to file for divorce after his effort to hold the marriage together (oh yeah, and also SAVING HER LIFE).

[Charla]

ITT: one page of bad jokes, followed by 6 pages of debate about something marginally related.

[TheShadyMan]

ITF: one page of bad jokes, followed by 6 pages of debate about something marginally related.

ftfy

[Metah]

ITT: one page of bad jokes, followed by 6 pages of debate about something marginally related.

6? That's being a little generous

[TheShadyMan]

OH GOD IT'S ALREADY STARTED.

[Charla]

Well if we're gonna talk ITF, then the estimate of 6 pages is actually far too low.

And to be fair, sometimes the jokes can be pretty good.

[oldoldman]

He got his balls back, what more does he need?

[Kael]

He saved her life. I say he should take it now. Screw the kidney or the money. Add some .45 calibur nutrients in her diet.

[Mizango]

I'd take it back also fuck that. I mean she has no problem taking one organ from the piece of shit she cheated on him with, why not take another?

See man, this is where I would pull the OJ card and straight up Turistas that bitch.

[Qalbert]

Kidney punch the bitch

[Kuya]

Talk about a moral crossfire.

[HAcoreRD]

Forgot to donate his black heart to her as well?

Wait, she's divorcing him, after he saved her. She has the black heart.

Fuck, confused

[zoobernut]

Maybe he wants his kidney back with a nice Chianti and some Fava beans.

[Serif]

Haha I heard this story this morning on Free Beer and Hot Wings

Pretty good laugh

[Sirenia]

Wow I guess even doctors can be dumb....you can't take back something you donated....especially an organ that belongs to someone else's body now. Just sounds like someone is really bitter....I'm sure his children would love it if he took the kidney back and she died. Brilliant.

[Correction]

http://i39.tinypic.com/16ap0zp.jpg