Academic

The Cukold and the Kidney-Hold: How a Donated Organ Should be Distributed in Divorce

By Bridget Crawford

The New York Daily News features plenty of stories that don’t make it into the New York Times.  Here’s one that caught my eye.  

A doctor on Long Island donated a kidney to his wife.  She then began an affair with her physical therapist. The doctor is now suing the wife for $1.5 million for the kidney.  

In the article, the doctor says of his wife’s infidelity, “It put a hole in my heart that still exists. To this day, I’m a man of pride. To be betrayed that way, humiliated - I can’t even began to say.” At another point in the article, the doctor says that he does not regret donating the kidney: ”There was no greater feeling on this planet,” he said. “As God is my witness, I felt as if I could put my arm around Jesus Christ. I was walking on a cloud.”

So is the doctor really suing for the cost of the kidney, or his wounded (masculine) pride?  Perhaps this is a modern twist on the now-defunct claims of alienation of affection, “criminal conversation” and seduction.  

A new drafting point for matrimonial lawyers.

-Bridget Crawford

Full post as published by Feminist Law Professors on January 17, 2009 (boomark / email).