Man Who Gave Wife His Kidney and Wants It Back Now Demands She be Jailed

By Dan Rattiner

Posted 01/23/09

It's not enough that he wants her to return the kidney. This guy means business. And it's a story that requires an explanation. Does the name Dominic Barbara mean anything to you?

There's a 44-year-old surgeon named Richard Batista on the staff of the Nassau County University Health Center who is going through a divorce. The wife in question is named Dawnell. And they've been battling back and forth for four years and it's gotten really nasty. He claims she is having an affair; she claims he is. She's accusing him of violence; he's accused her of not letting him see the kids. She says he doesn't see the kids because he is not on time. This is the usual stuff that is emotionally very difficult for those involved although a boom economy for the lawyers involved. One wishes it could be different. One wishes there were some way to end it.

Into this scene has come Barbara, one of the most flamboyant lawyers on all of Long Island, who in the past has represented Joey Buttafuoco in the case where his 16-year-old lover knocked on his front door, and when his wife opened it, shot her with a pistol. (She lived.) He has represented Jessica Hahn, who claimed that televangelist Jim Bakker raped her and just about ruined him with that claim.

When it comes to battles between men and women, there are some sympathetic lawyers who try to be like fire extinguishers. Then there are lawyers like Barbara, who throw Molotov cocktails at the flames, and when things blow up and get even worse, then, surprisingly, everybody settles.

Well, Dr. Batista, beside himself at how this was going on and on, hired a new lawyer to take over the case when his old lawyer just was not getting anywhere. Guess who? And here is what Barbara has done.

In interviewing Dr. Batista, Barbara learned that his wife Dawnell had had kidney failure. She had gotten a new kidney from her father, but the transplant failed. Then she got another kidney and that failed too. In 2002, in happier times, as she suffered complete kidney failure and faced either dialysis or death, her husband stepped in and donated his to her. A short time later, she took a karate class and hurt her knee. Then, she fell in love with her rehab instructor, according to Dr. Batista.

Well, that's all very lovey dovey until the end there. But Barbara got this idea. He'd have his client demand his kidney back, or $1.2 million for the value of it, since she didn't love him anymore. Papers were filed. The ex-wife-in-training, Dawnell, filed papers back. There are experts who will be called in about what a kidney is worth. This story has been in newspapers around the world.

The latest news is that Dr. Batista now wants his wife put in jail. One leaps to the conclusion that this is about the kidney. The husband wants his kidney kept in a safe place, where he can get at it when the time comes. He doesn't want his wife doing terrible things to it because it's his. You never know what a woman wronged will do, after all.

But it turns out it's not about the kidney. Dr. Batista says his wife is preventing him from seeing his three kids. And they have an agreement that he is supposed to see them. She is therefore in violation of a court order. And she should be put in jail for violating it.

The judge says he will take it under advisement and will make a decision about it on Monday.

Meanwhile, there's a development in matters of the heart involving Barbara himself. It was on PAGE SIX of the New York Post on Wednesday. Barbara has fallen in love. The heartthrob is a woman who, on an earlier occasion, Barbara was firing both barrels at. Her name is Stacy Geller and she has three kids and two years ago Barbara was hired to represent her ex-husband-in-training, Sheldon Geller, to wind up their divorce.

"We started going out and now she's my girlfriend," Barbara told PAGE SIX.

Are church bells in the air? What do we say to this woman? Your comments are welcome.