Husband demands his donated kidney back from his wife after she files for divorce
A long Island man, Richard Batista, is demanding his kidney back after donating it to his wife Dawnell in 2001 after two previous failed transplants.
Despite telling the New York Daily News that there is “no value you can put on an organ when it saves someone’s life. There is no greater feeling on this planet,” he is suing Dawnell for the organ or $1.5m.
“She slapped me with divorce papers when I was in surgery trying to save another person’s life.” Dr Richard Batista
Sky News states that their relationship had been suffering due to the strain of his wife’s medical issues. Dr Batista states, ”My first priority was to save her life… The second bonus was to turn the marriage around.” But it did not work and four years later she filed for divorce.
UPenn bioethicist Arthur Caplan states that the likelihood of Dr. Batista getting his kidney back is “somewhere between impossible and completely impossible”.
Likewise Georgetown bioethicist Robert Veatch emphasizes that it is illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value and that a donation is a gift: “It’s her kidney now and taking the kidney out would mean she would have to go on dialysis or it would kill her.” According to SkyNews, Mr Veatch further mentioned that no reputable surgeon would perform such a procedure and no court could compel someone to undergo an operation.
Jennifer Miller, Excutive Director of Bioethics International in New York City, further elaborated that “removing the donated kidney would not only violate the hippocratic oath of ‘do no harm’, but also violate the patient’s, in this case the wife, wishes.”
(c) 2009 Bioethics International
