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The Vox Box

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  3. Man Demands Kidney in Divorce

Man Demands Kidney in Divorce

The 'Case of the Kidney' gets interesting...
The 'Case of the Kidney' gets interesting...

Now let this be a lesson to all you kids; only accept organs from those true friends who won't want them back...

Friendship isn't the conflict with Long Island surgeon, Dr. Richard Batista, and wife Dawnell Batista. Findingulcinea.com reports that Dr. Batista is demanding through divorce proceedings that his wife "return the kidney he donated to her or pay him $1.5 million in compensation." 

The case, as 'unique' as it may be, is described as a "nonstarter" and having "virtually no chance of succeeding," by Georgetown University medical ethicists,  (people who decide what's ethical in the medical world...),  based on the fact that it's illegal in the United States to trade bodily organs with anything of value. 

"In theory, we are asking for the return of the kidney," Dr. Batista's lawyer clarified.  "Of course, he wouldn't really ask for that, but the value of it."

What do you think about this? What would you say to the requested return of a donated body part?

In 2006, then-editor Steve Smith of The Spokesman-Review had the idea of starting a publication for an often forgotten audience: teenagers. The Vox Box was a continuation of the Vox, an all-student staffed newspaper published by The Spokesman-Review. High school student journalists who staffed the Vox made all content decisions as they learn about the trade of journalism. This blog's mission was to give students an opportunity to publish their voices. The Vox Box and the Vox wrapped up in June 2009, but you can follow former staffers' new blog at http://voxxiez.blogspot.com.