McClatchy-Tribune: When his wife needed a kidney transplant, Dr. Richard Batista gave her one of his, attorney Dominic Barbara said.

Now that Dawnell Batista has filed for a divorce, Richard Batista wants his kidney back as part of his settlement demand. Or, Barbara said Wednesday, his client wants the value of that kidney: An estimated $1.5 million.

The case is being heard by the Supreme Court in Mineola, N.Y.

Barbara said his client, a doctor from Ronkonkoma who graduated Cornell University Medical School in 1995, married Dawnell Batista in 1990. The couple had three children, now ages 14, 11 and 8.

After she had two failed transplants, Barbara said, his client donated a kidney to his wife in an operation that took place at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in 2001.

Richard Batista said his marriage at the time was on the rocks because of the strain of his wife's medical issues.

"My first priority was to save her life," Batista said at a news conference in Garden City. "The second bonus was to turn the marriage around."

Dawnell Batista, 44, of Massapequa, filed for divorce in July 2005, Barbara said.

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