Man Who Gave Wife His Kidney Demanded She Return It Or Pay $1.5m After She Filed For Divorce
He claimed that she had an affair.
Divorce can be a difficult and bitter process, but one man took things to a whole other level when his wife filed to bring their marriage to an end.
When things become acrimonious in a divorce, you might expect that things like the house or custody of the children are going to be central to the legal proceedings that follow.
For one man, however, things were even more extreme than this, as prior to the divorce, presumably when things were going a bit better, he had given his wife a kidney.
It’s a touching gesture, one which you might think would exemplify love and commitment.
But Dr Richard Batista rather spoiled the gift when he demanded that his wife, Dawnell, either return the kidney or pay him $1.5 million after she filed for divorce.
The couple tied the knot back in 1990 and had three children together.
Dr Batista claimed that their marriage had already been on the rocks due to his wife’s ongoing medical issues.
After she had two failed kidney transplants, he decided that he would donate one of his kidneys to save both her life and their marriage in 2001.
He told reporters at the time: “My first priority was to save her life. The second bonus was to turn the marriage around.”
But it seems that while the procedure succeeded in saving Dawnell’s life, the ‘bonus’ was not quite so forthcoming, and she filed for divorce in 2005.
Dr Batista accused her of having an affair and responded by including a demand for his donated kidney or compensation of $1.5 million as part of the settlement in an extraordinary request.
His lawyer, Dominic Barbara, said his client was ‘asking for the value of the kidney’ that he gave Dawnell.
