(I didn’t want any of you to, um, get sick and ruin your keyboards, so I’m posting a picture of kidney beans instead of kidneys. Funny how they really do look like kidneys though.)

This edition of WTF is made possible by a contribution from Taylor Nikole.  Thanks Taylor!

Okay so, there’s this surgeon from New York named Richard Batista.  Several years ago, he gave his wife one of his kidneys.  Now he is suing his wife to get it back.  Or $1.5 million.  Whichever.

But hang on, because we of the GBD like to hear both sides of the story, right?

So it seems that the surgeon doesn’t REALLY want his kidney back.  I think.  He’s only using the lawsuit as leverage in their divorce case.  He says his wife is being unreasonable by restricting access to their children.  That and she, um, cheated on him.  With her physical therapist.  Who was treating her for an injury she suffered from karate.  Which she was only able to take up because she was healthier.  Beeeeeecause she got a new kidney.  From her husband.

Oy.

The doctor says he originally gave her his kidney to save her life and to turn their marriage around.  Saving life?  Check.  Saving marriage?  Not so much.  A few years after the transplant, his wife filed for divorce.

From a legal standpoint, it’s not looking too good for the doctor – “somewhere between impossible and completely impossible” says Arthur Caplan from the University of Pennsylvania.   One, since a donated organ is a gift, it is illegal for it to be exchanged for anything of value (like $1.5 million).  Aaaaand two, there’s the small issue of the wife/ex-wife dying if the kidney is taken out.

Here’s the link to the article.  And another one.  There’s even a video.

So.  GBD!  Suing to get a kidney back as leverage in a divorce case…Win, Toss, or Fail?