| 1 | | | She stole his heart so he gave her his kidney. And now he wants it back. |
| | | So goes the story of 49-year-old Long Island physician Richard Batista and his |
| | | estranged wife. Batista gave one of his kidneys to Dawnell, 44, who had suffered |
| | | from kidney disease for many years. According to the NY Daily News, he said |
| 5 | | that Dawnell initiated an affair with her physical therapist two years later. She |
| | | then filed for divorce to end their 15-year marriage. “I saved her life,” Batista told |
| | | the Daily News. “But the pain is unbearable.” At a news conference, Dr. Batista’s |
| | | lawyer said his client was demanding return of the kidney or $1.5 million (its |
| | | estimated worth). |
| | | |
| 2 | 10 | | It is not difficult to sympathize with Dr. Batista, who is having an |  |
| | | extreme form of donor remorse. While the vast majority of |
| | | donors report a lasting feeling of self-worth and experience a |
| | | deep sense of gratification from the act — according to surveys, |
| | | about 95 percent of donors say they would do it again — some |
| 15 | | regret having donated. It may be that a hoped-for closeness with the recipient |
| | | failed to materialize, an anticipated demonstration of gratitude was not |
| | | forthcoming, or the donor felt he did not get the social recognition he deserved. |
| | | For Dr. Batista, the betrayal he felt led to outrage and a demand for restitution. |
| | | But it is easy to get carried away with the ‘comic potential’ connected to the |
| 20 | | Batista drama. Should pre-nuptial agreements now specify the fate of a kidney |
| | | given during the marriage? Should human organs be counted as marital assets |
| | | like bank accounts and property? |
| | | |
| 3 | | | The dark side of organ donation was laid bare with the Dutch television program |
| | | The Big Donor Show (2007). In the show a terminally ill woman, Lisa, was to |
| 25 | | select which of three needy contestant-patients would receive one of her kidneys |
| | | after she died. To international relief, the show was a hoax. As Lisa was about to |
| | | announce her choice, viewers learned that she was really an actress, not a |
| | | cancer patient looking for a worthy recipient. Lisa and the potential recipients, all |
| | | of whom were real people in need of kidney transplants and aware of the show’s |
| 30 | | deception, were part of an enactment to dramatize the shortage of transplantable |
| | | organs. |
| | | |
| 4 | | | The Batista tale touches the same issues highlighted on The Big Donor Show. |
| | | There are now over 100,000 Americans waiting for a new kidney, liver, heart or |
| | | lungs. Kidney patients represent more than three-fourths of the national waiting |
| 35 | | list, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Only one in four people |
| | | on the list will get a kidney transplant this year. The rest will have to make do |
| | | with dialysis while their names crawl to the top of the list, an ordeal that can take |
| | | five to eight years in big cities, which often proves to be too long. |
| | | |
| 5 | | | Last year 6,000 people gave a kidney to a loved one — the lowest number since |
| 40 | | 2000. Policy makers must face the fact that altruism1) alone isn’t enough. The |
| | | government should devise a safe, regulated system in which would-be donors |
| | | are offered incentives to donate a kidney. The sick person would not personally |
| | | reward the donor; rather the government would provide the benefit, perhaps a |
| | | tax credit or lifelong health insurance. It has never been strictly forbidden for the |
| 45 | | government to use incentives to encourage organ donation, even though organ |
| | | brokering and direct patient-donor payments are illegal. |
| | | |
| 6 | | | Which brings us back to the Batistas. Within hours of Dr. Batista’s news |
| | | conference, his story was making international tabloid headlines. But if this |
| | | episode is to serve any purpose greater than satisfying our inevitable thirst for |
| 50 | | the scandalous, we need policy makers willing to press for reforms in transplant |
| | | policy that can bring hope and life to thousands in need. |
| | | www.thedailybeast.com, 2009 |
