When we get married, we promise that it is going to be for better or for worse. The unfortunate reality for many people, however, is that things get bad enough that they end up calling it quits.
Divorce is never something that is enjoyable and at times, it can be very bitter. We sometimes hear about the lengths people are willing to go to during the divorce in order to get one over on the ex-husband or wife.
There is one man, however, who decided to take things to a level that perhaps had never happened before in history. According to the story, he loved his wife so much that he gave her a kidney in order to save her life.
That is something that is very touching, but things didn’t turn out well when they divorced. Dr Richard Batista was so upset with his now ex-wife, Dawnell that he demanded $1.5 million for the kidney or else she could return it.
The couple had gotten married in 1990 and they have three children together. Their marriage was already struggling because of her medical problems, and after two failed kidney transplants, he told her he would donate one of his own kidneys to save her life. That was in 2001.
His heart was in the right place at the time. He said: “My first priority was to save her life. The second bonus was to turn the marriage around.”
The procedure may have saved her life but it didn’t necessarily save the marriage. They divorced in 2005 after he accused her of having an affair. That is when he demanded that she compensate him for the kidney or give it back.
According to his lawyer, he was only asking for the value of the kidney and returned. It may have been a stretch, but it is unlikely to work. According to one medical ethicist, “It’s her kidney now and … taking the kidney out would mean she would have to go on dialysis or it would kill her.”
Despite the fact that he tried to retrieve the kidney or be compensated for it, the Nassau County Supreme Court rejected his request. They said that the kidney was a gift and he didn’t have the right to retrieve monetary compensation for it.