This Should Make the Law Books

Editors who assemble the hornbooks that law students use in law school are always on the prowl for interesting cases and ones that have interesting ethical and moral dilemmas.

You can bet that they're salivating over the possibility that this case makes it all the way to a decision, and that the case doesn't settle before then.

What's the issue? Well, a couple is seeking a divorce. That's nothing new and matrimonial law books are replete with cases. I don't think any of them have ever included a demand for $1.5 million for the kidney that the husband donated to the wife, who later engaged in adultery.

A Long Island surgeon who dumped his wife after she allegedly had a steamy affair wants her to give back the kidney he lovingly gave her, or fork over the $1.5 million he claims the organ is worth.

"I saved her life and then, to be betrayed like this, is unfathomable. It's incomprehensible," said Dr. Richard Batista, 49.

"I feel humbled and betrayed and disregarded. This divorce is killing me."

Batista, a vascular surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center, claimed his wife left him after getting physical with her physical therapist.

He said the couple married on Aug. 31, 1990, in "a very nice, lavish wedding," but two years later, the relationship began a "slow downward trend."

Since he filed for divorce in 2005, he said, she has made it increasingly difficult for him see their three children.

"The main reason the doctor is doing this is because of how he's been treated in this case," said Dominic Barbara, Batista's lawyer.

They are asking for the $1.5 million as part of the distribution of assets based on a medical expert's estimated value of the kidney.

So, what are the key issues here? Does the doctor have a right to recover the value of the kidney? Was it or was it not a gift?

I tend to think that the court, if it makes it that far, will find that the donated kidney was a gift and it is not to be counted as an asset divisible for distribution purposes. From an ethics standpoint, I think the court would be on shaky grounds if it allows the value of the kidney to be included.

Batista apparently found out that his wife was cheating when he discovered that she was doing the paramour's laundry along with the family's laundry. Ouch! No wonder he wants the money...