I want my 3,000 ducats (or gimme my kidney)

The absurdity of the claim is obvious -- perhaps it was made just to colour the rest of the case. On the other hand, it hardly puts the husband in a good light... .

Long Island doctor Richard Batista to estranged wife: Give me my kidney back or $1.5M

By LARRY McSHANE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Warga/News

Dr. Richard Batista donated his kidney to his wife, Dawnell, in 2001.

Richard Batista can live with his broken heart. He just can't bear his cheating wife living with his healthy kidney.

The Long Island doctor wants the one-time love of his life to pay $1.5 million for the organ he bestowed on her eight years ago in a gift meant to save her life and their foundering marriage.

"There's no deeper pain you can ever express than to be betrayed by the person you devoted your life to," Batista told reporters in Garden City Wednesday.

"I saved her life. But the pain is unbearable."

Batista charged his wife, Dawnell, repaid his gesture by first sleeping with her physical therapist - and then denying him access to their three kids in an increasingly bitter divorce.