A recent news item by Jen Chung on Gothamist reports that a New York doctor is demanding that his estranged wife return the kidney he donated to her during their separation…. or pay him its value of $1.5 million.

Newsday reports that Batista married wife Dawnell in 1990 and that he donated the kidney in 2001. According to Batista, their marriage was on the rocks then, but “My first priority was to save her life. The second bonus was to turn the marriage around.” Dawnell Batista filed for divorce in 2005. Dr. Batista told WCBS 880, “She had an affair, then would not reconcile, then handed me divorce papers as I was going into surgery trying to save another person’s life.

My question is, how did Dr. Batista determine the value of the kidney?