GARDEN CITY, New York: A New York doctor is demanding his estranged wife pay him $US1.5 million ($2.1 million) to compensate him for the kidney he gave her while they were still on good terms.
Richard Batista, 49, said he gave his kidney to Dawnell Batista in June 2001, and she filed for divorce in July 2005.
The couple has three children, aged 8, 11 and 14.
The New York Post reported that Dr Batista was dumped after his wife started seeing a physical therapist she met in 2003 while recovering from a knee injury suffered in karate lessons. "I saved her life and then to be betrayed like this is unfathomable. It's incomprehensible," the Post quoted Dr Batista as saying.
"She engaged in an extramarital affair and refused to goto marital counselling and reconciliation.
"She slapped me with divorce papers in the operating room while I was trying to save another patient's life."
Dominic Barbara, a lawyer for Dr Batista, was quoted as saying: "The main reason the doctor is doing this is because of how he's been treated in this case."
Dr Batista, a vascular surgeon for Nassau University Medical Centre, has demanded the $US1.5 million as part of the distribution of assets in the divorce.
A medical expert estimated the value of the kidney for the legal team.
"In theory, we are asking for the return of the kidney. Of course he wouldn't really ask for that but the value of it," Mr Barbara was quoted as saying
A message left for Ms Batista's lawyer, Douglas Rothkopf, was not immediately returned.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24888798-2703,00.html
