So get this – this New York surgeon named Richard Batista is demanding that his ex-wife give him back the kidney he donated to her during their marriage or pay him $1.5 million as compensation after their divorce. I mean, talk about a messy breakup!
So apparently, Batista donated his kidney to his wife back in 2001 when she was suffering from kidney failure. Fast forward to their divorce in 2005, and now he’s demanding either his kidney back or a hefty sum of money in return. Crazy, right?
Richard has claimed their relationship was already on the rocks when Dawnell went into renal failure in 2001 and needed a kidney transplant – although he did not hesitate to give her his organ when he discovered he was a match.
‘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,’ he told CBS in 2009.
‘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, I felt I could put my arm around Jesus Christ.
‘[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.’
Four years later, in 2005, though Dawnell Batista lived, the marriage gamble had failed – leading her to file for divorce.
However, Richard accused the mother of his children of having an affair and throwing him out of 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,’ Richard, who is now 64, told local media at the time.
He also claimed he was suing for the kidney because his wife had denied him contact with their three children, who were aged eight, 11 and 14.
‘I saved her life. This divorce is killing me,’ he told reporters, as he further demanded to be compensated $1.5 million from his wife should the organ not be returned.
Needless to say, Richard did not succeed in getting either the kidney or the compensation during the divorce proceedings.
In a 10-page decision, the Nassau County Supreme Court rejected his request and ruled that the kidney was a gift.
Doctors told CBS that an operation to return the kidney was not only unethical but nearly impossible.
It sounds like a scene straight out of a soap opera, but this is real life, people. And it’s got everyone talking about the lengths some folks will go to settle a divorce.
