Doctor Demands His Organ Back From Ex-wife

A Long Island doctor whose wife dumped him for her physical therapist after he gave her his kidney is suing the mother of three for the $1.5 million that he claims the organ is worth.

"I saved her life and then to be betrayed like this is unfathomable. It's incomprehensible," said Dr. Richard Batista, 49.

He said his wife, Dawnell Batista, started running around behind his back with a physical therapist she met in 2003 while recovering from a knee injury she suffered during karate lessons.

"She engaged in an extramarital affair and refused to go to marital counseling and reconciliation," he said.

"She slapped me with divorce papers in the operating room while I was trying to save another patient's life."

The doctor, who works as a vascular surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center, said that since filed for divorce in 2005, she has refused to let him see his three children, ages, 8, 11 and 14.

"The main reason the doctor is doing this is because of how he's been treated in this case," said Dominic Barbara, Batista's lawyer.

They are asking for the $1.5 million as part of the distribution of assets in the divorce.

See Chick's THE ROYAL AFFAIR.