Per an article in Times Online on January 9, 2009 by James Bone, there is a divorcing couple with a different scenario than the ones that are usually in divorce court. The husband is demanding $1.5 million dollars or the return of the kidney that he donated to his wife.
Bone stated that, “A doctor is demanding his pound of flesh from his soon-to-be-former wife as part of their divorce.
Richard Batista, a surgeon who split from his wife claiming that she had an affair, is asking that she now return the kidney that he gave her. “I saved her life and then, to be betrayed like this is unfathomable. It’s incomprehensible,” Mr. Batista said. “I feel humbled and betrayed and disregarded. This divorce is killing me.”
Mrs. Batista, 44, a doctor’s assistant, had her first kidney transplant as a baby, with her father acting as the donor. She tried again years later with a kidney donated by her brother, but her body rejected both organs.
Doctors then discovered that Mr. Batista’s kidneys were a 1-in-700,000 match, and in June 2001 he gladly donated one, allowing her to skip a waiting list of 6,748 people awaiting kidneys in New York State.
“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 a press conference.
“When I donated … the next day I was on my feet going down the hallway to visit her in the adjoining room – there was no greater feeling on this planet. I did the right thing for her to this day. I could still do it again.”
Under US law, an organ donation is considered a gift, and organs cannot be bought and sold.
To make matters worse, she served him with divorce papers while he was in the operating room, trying to save a patient’s life.
Divorce attorney Dominic Barbara says this case is a first in New York.
He actually had to get an estimate on how much the kidney his client donated is worth.”
My opinion here is that Mrs. Batista is not a very appreciate or kind woman. I don’t agree with Robert Veatch, a medical ethicist at Georgetown University’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics who was quoted as saying, “It’s illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value. When you give something, you can’t get it back.” The reason that I beg to differ with Robert Veatch is because he is speaking as an expert in ethics.
The first part of his comment may be true but the second part is not. How many divorce court hearings spend multiple days focused on one or both spouses trying to get back something that was given to him or her during the marriage? From personal knowledge I know for a fact that in divorce court, when you give something, you CAN get it back whether or not you should ethically.
In addition, the reality is that too often, many divorce cases find their way into court sans ethics in even one aspect of the battle.
