You thought the donated kidney divorce was bad? An executive for a group of Long Island car dealerships is at the center of a strange lawsuit filed by a former employee who accuses her boss of firing her after she gave up a kidney to help save her life. According to a lawsuit filed with the New York State Human Rights commission, Debbie Stevens, a 47-year-old divorced mother of two, donated a kidney so that her boss, Jackie Brucia, 61, could get a transplant. Not long after she was terminated, the Post reports. "I decided to become a kidney donor to my boss, and she took my heart," says Stevens, who probably has a great future as a blues singer ahead of her. more ›

A Brooklyn man pleaded guilty today to being part of a black market kidney ring stretching from Israel to NYC. Levy Itzhak Rosenbaum, 60, admitted that he bought kidneys for cheap in Israel then sold them to needy people in America for huge sums of money. "I am what you call a matchmaker...I've never had a failure," he was caught on tape telling an FBI informant posing as a potential client. more ›

City Santas have been around forever, and now one of them needs a Christmas miracle. FoxNY reports that a retired NYPD cop is in need of a new kidney; for ten years the cop, Angelo Grande, has been Santa Claus to the children of police officers who were killed in the line of duty. President of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association says, “He is truly beloved by the children and widows alike. Angelo’s life has been one dedicated to caring for others." Can you donate a kidney to Officer Santa? Contact transplant coordinator Pat Delforio at Northshore Hospital, but only if you're an “O” blood type. more ›

The Queens DA's office charged two women with attempted grand larceny as a hate crime after they allegedly targeted elderly men. In one instance, they claimed they were a mother and daughter who needed money to buy the daughter a black market kidney. A 79-year-old victim said, "They stole my money - $800. I let them in here. They went into my drawers... They asked me to help them out with something. They gave me false names. They took money from me. I forgot what they asked for," and the Daily News reports, "The duo were tripped up when Queens Savings Bank recently notified an 84-year-old victim it had received his letter asking the bank to close out his account and send more than $50,000. He went to cops." more ›

Widow Kimberly Liew, whose husband Vincent died in 2002 after contracting uterine cancer from an infected kidney transplant, was shocked when a judge ruled that NYU Medical Center was not liable for Vincent's death. Liew, who was suing for $3 million, won't receive any money, even though the family of another patient who died after receiving a diseased organ from donor Sandy Cabrera was awarded $750,000 from the hospital. Liew said that despite the verdict, "It's very important for the world to know what happened to him. Hopefully, it will save lives." more ›

Organ recipient Vincent Liew died seven months after his kidney transplant at NYU Medical Center in 2002 from uterine cancer—a disease only women get. It turns out that NYU had transplanted a cancerous kidney into Liew's body, and now his widow is suing the doctors responsible. Kimberly Liew's lawyer says the kidney was "covered in tumors" when it was put Vincent's body, but doctors didn't learn that it had come from a cancerous donor until two months after the transplant. more ›

Confirmed: The battle between the divorcing Long Island husband and wife that revolves around an alleged affair and the value of a donated kidney is getting nasty. Dr. Richard Batista contends that estranged wife Dawnell should give him back the kidney he donated to her—or give him the value of the organ—since he claims she had an affair and wants the divorce. However, Dawnell Batista denies there was an affair; her lawyer told reporters that Richard Batista is "hyper suspicious" and "would rummage through her underwear drawer sniffing her underwear [to see if she had cheated]." Um, okay. She is hoping the judge will issue a gag order, but her husband's lawyer believes his client has the right to talk about the case, "This is a man who put his life on the line, and his wife has treated him like a piece of dirt." more ›

A Long Island doctor is demanding that his estranged wife give him back the kidney he donated to her seven years ago. Dr. Richard Batista's lawyer Dominic Barbara says his client would also be satisfied with the value of the kidney: $1.5 million. more ›