New York doctor Richard Batista doesn’t care what you think of him. If he did, why would he hold a press conference to tell reporters he wants his ex-wife to give his kidney back?
Seems the good doctor wouldn’t have parted with the organ in 2001 if he knew wife Dawnell Batista would cheat on him and file for divorce four years later. Sure, she’s the mother of his three children, but it’s not like he would have given her the kidney just for that. “My first priority was to save her life,” he said. “The second bonus was to turn the marriage around.” If she’s not willing to part with the organ—which succeeded where two previous transplants had failed—he’ll settle for $1.5 million dollars.
Batista says “there’s no deeper pain you could ever express” than finding out your wife is cheating on you, and you can’t blame him for resenting having given her the gift of life. But it takes serious balls to ask for it back. According to a medical ethicist consulted by Newsday, “it’s illegal for an organ to be exchanged for anything of value.” So not only is this doctor asking the court for something grossly unethical, he held a press conference to announce it. Is it too early to nominate someone for Asshole Of The Year?
