Woman Sues For "Wrongful Life" Pregnancy

[Maggie Mae]

How do you think it affects a child to grow up knowing that Mom and Dad were so upset over that child's birth that they sued for monetary damages? That they feel they need to be financially compensated because you're alive? If someone wants to sue because their child is breathing, they need to give up that child first, for the sake of that child's mental well-being.

Or the child grows up thinking that they are the cause of all of the money problems, the divorce, mom losing her job and her patience. Sometimes, people just need to know what happened and why things are how they are. It's not the child's fault that they were born. Mom and Dad can love the child just as much if not more if they are compensated for the fact that the doctor made a mistake.

[older than allosaurs]

I am hospitalized 2-4 times a year (5-21 days each) and I usually request itemized bills for my hospitalizations. I once discovered 3 charges of $6200 for chemotherapy injections. Mind you, I do NOT receive chemotherapy but I do get PICC Lines (essentially, longer-term IVs for 2-3 week courses of IV antibiotics).

I contacted my doctors and the hospital billing office, and upon investigation, was told that it was a clerical error and that I never received the medication. There was no way to test - this was about 6-8 weeks after my hospital discharge - so I basically had to believe everyone.

I once had to private pay for a surgery and when I got the itemized bill it showed blood transfusions I never had plus a number of other supplies that I never got or needed. It also left out some services I did receive. When I brought this up with billing, they said it was an error and sent me a new bill, with the actual procedures and supplies covered, and the same total cost to the penny. Makes you wonder.

Years ago I read about a wrongful life lawsuit where a caucasian couple had a baby through donor sperm, and then sued for wrongful life because the baby was biracial, contrary to their specifications. They said they loved their daughter but it was unfair she would have to suffer the trauma of being nonwhite. I get it that the sperm bank messed up, but there's a message to pass on to your child. How much $$ is it worth to be the "wrong" race. And who gets to spend that money?

[Maggie Mae]

I once had to private pay for a surgery and when I got the itemized bill it showed blood transfusions I never had plus a number of other supplies that I never got or needed. It also left out some services I did receive. When I brought this up with billing, they said it was an error and sent me a new bill, with the actual procedures and supplies covered, and the same total cost to the penny. Makes you wonder.

Years ago I read about a wrongful life lawsuit where a caucasian couple had a baby through donor sperm, and then sued for wrongful life because the baby was biracial, contrary to their specifications. They said they loved their daughter but it was unfair she would have to suffer the trauma of being nonwhite. I get it that the sperm bank messed up, but there's a message to pass on to your child. How much $$ is it worth to be the "wrong" race. And who gets to spend that money?

I would hope they would put it in a college fund for their child. The child, while not necessarily suffering trauma, is probably fielding questions about parentage on a regular basis. Especially if it's a heterosexual couple who had planned to have a child who looked at least somewhat like them. School administration can be down right cruel when it comes to inappropriate questions about parents who have different last names/look different from their kids. In the name of "safety." Because everyone knows that hoards of kidnapping, child traffickers, pedophiles hang out at schools, picking up kids that know them already and call them "dad."

[older than allosaurs]

I would hope they would put it in a college fund for their child. The child, while not necessarily suffering trauma, is probably fielding questions about parentage on a regular basis. Especially if it's a heterosexual couple who had planned to have a child who looked at least somewhat like them. School administration can be down right cruel when it comes to inappropriate questions about parents who have different last names/look different from their kids. In the name of "safety." Because everyone knows that hoards of kidnapping, child traffickers, pedophiles hang out at schools, picking up kids that know them already and call them "dad."

At the time, I was in the midst of raising AA children as a white parent, so my response was mostly incredulity. I remember that a black essayist wrote a column asking whom she got to sue for the trauma of being born herself.

It's true that if my kids got a payout for every time someone asked them what happened to their real parents, or told them they must have been really bad to have been given away, or just experienced garden variety racism, they wouldn't worrying now about their college loans.

[applejack]

I once had to private pay for a surgery and when I got the itemized bill it showed blood transfusions I never had plus a number of other supplies that I never got or needed. It also left out some services I did receive. When I brought this up with billing, they said it was an error and sent me a new bill, with the actual procedures and supplies covered, and the same total cost to the penny. Makes you wonder.

Years ago I read about a wrongful life lawsuit where a caucasian couple had a baby through donor sperm, and then sued for wrongful life because the baby was biracial, contrary to their specifications. They said they loved their daughter but it was unfair she would have to suffer the trauma of being nonwhite. I get it that the sperm bank messed up, but there's a message to pass on to your child. How much $$ is it worth to be the "wrong" race. And who gets to spend that money?

I remember this. It was a lesbian couple who had chosen their donor, and they got shipped the wrong donor sperm. They didn't discover the mixup until one of them was already pregnant with the sperm from the donor they'd gotten shipped but wasn't the one they had chosen. They had ordered more so that the partner could hopefully get pregnant as well and their children would be blood relatives.

Apparently they live in a not particularly diverse town in Ohio and have some racist relatives, and have been told that it would be best for the little girl if they move to a more racially diverse area.

chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-sperm-donor-lawsuit-met-20140930-story.html

[sockinshoe]

I remember this. It was a lesbian couple who had chosen their donor, and they got shipped the wrong donor sperm. They didn't discover the mixup until one of them was already pregnant with the sperm from the donor they'd gotten shipped but wasn't the one they had chosen. They had ordered more so that the partner could hopefully get pregnant as well and their children would be blood relatives.

Apparently they live in a not particularly diverse town in Ohio and have some racist relatives, and have been told that it would be best for the little girl if they move to a more racially diverse area.

chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-sperm-donor-lawsuit-met-20140930-story.html

I think that's a unique case, given that the moms are trying to do right by their child (whom they clearly love), but are in a situation where they have to make many changes (cutting out relatives, moving, etc.) to give their child the best upbringing possible under the circumstances. Considering how they are dedicated to parenting this kid and how they didn't really know how to address their child's race but wanted to make an effort anyway, I would be I. favour of them getting some money to help provide for their child. They're willing to make expensive changes, due to an "error"; they should be compensated.

[older than allosaurs]

The Chicago case is not the one I was thinking of. I hadn't heard about that one. A bit of googling brought up a couple more--one set of fraternal twins by donor sperm, in Northern Ireland, where the children were different races and the parents sued. Another where the husband was white, the wife was light-skinned mixed race, from the Dominican Republic, and the child was darker than the mother. They sued because they had wanted a child no darker than the mother. Sheesh.

I wonder how often these mixups happen? If there were not a color/feature difference to tip you off, would you be likely to know a sperm switch had happened?

"My" story is from 1990: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/09/nyreg ... mixup.html

The couple had banked the husband's sperm when he began cancer treatment, and he died not long after the baby was born. So they had the extra heartache that they had been trying to carry on his legacy. The part that got me ragey at the time was the mother explaining that how terrible--and deserving of compensation--it was for her daughter to have to experience racism, not seeming to grasp that racism is not terrible only when a person was expected to be white.

[DGayle]

Or the child grows up thinking that they are the cause of all of the money problems, the divorce, mom losing her job and her patience. Sometimes, people just need to know what happened and why things are how they are. It's not the child's fault that they were born. Mom and Dad can love the child just as much if not more if they are compensated for the fact that the doctor made a mistake.

If Mom and Dad have to be paid to love the child, then they don't really love the child. Loving a child shouldn't be something you're paid to do. "Mom and Dad only love me because they were compensated." That's cruel.

Even kids with parents who don't due doctors for their existences can think they're they reason money's tight or mom lost her job or for a divorce. Know what those kids won't have to think? The truth about how Mom and Dad literally sued because they were born. It's evil to keep a child whose existence is such a disappointment that you want to be compensated. There is no way a child can grow up to have a healthy relationship with people who were angry enough to sue like that. This isn't the sort of medical malpractice where the doctor's error led to a costly or painful medical condition, and money is to cover those expenses. This is the sort of case where someone's very existence isn't wanted, and rather than let that child go to a home wanting that child, the parents decide they want money for the horror and heartbreak of being stuck with a child they don't want.

[Maggie Mae]

If Mom and Dad have to be paid to love the child, then they don't really love the child. Loving a child shouldn't be something you're paid to do. "Mom and Dad only love me because they were compensated." That's cruel.

Even kids with parents who don't due doctors for their existences can think they're they reason money's tight or mom lost her job or for a divorce. Know what those kids won't have to think? The truth about how Mom and Dad literally sued because they were born. It's evil to keep a child whose existence is such a disappointment that you want to be compensated. There is no way a child can grow up to have a healthy relationship with people who were angry enough to sue like that. This isn't the sort of medical malpractice where the doctor's error led to a costly or painful medical condition, and money is to cover those expenses. This is the sort of case where someone's very existence isn't wanted, and rather than let that child go to a home wanting that child, the parents decide they want money for the horror and heartbreak of being stuck with a child they don't want.

In real life, people can both love their child, and be upset that the clinic made a mistake, and deserve to be compensated appropriately for said medical mistake.

[hilee]

I honestly feel for this woman. The thought of getting pregnant again terrifies me, I have nightmares about it. I have little doubt at some point I'd be put on bedrest, most likely delivering prematurely (definitely before 37 weeks). I can't afford another child, and we recently found out my husband has a genetic heart condition that luckily isn't so bad in him yet, but it can be one that if present and symptomatic is likely fatal.

If the clinic screwed up like this I don't know that I could abort in some circumstances, but I don't think a baby I was trying to prevent that will cost me money I cannot afford is something I could deal with, I would likely sue.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Or the child grows up thinking that they are the cause of all of the money problems, the divorce, mom losing her job and her patience. Sometimes, people just need to know what happened and why things are how they are. It's not the child's fault that they were born. Mom and Dad can love the child just as much if not more if they are compensated for the fact that the doctor made a mistake.

You don't launch a wrongful birth lawsuit if you are simply after information. You can get your medical records and make a complaint if that's all you want.

The very nature of this lawsuit means that the parents are required to testify that they wish that the child had never been born. A profoundly disabled child may never know that the parents did this, but it's a troubling aspect of this type of claim.

[Maggie Mae]

You don't launch a wrongful birth lawsuit if you are simply after information. You can get your medical records and make a complaint if that's all you want.

The very nature of this lawsuit means that the parents are required to testify that they wish that the child had never been born. A profoundly disabled child may never know that the parents did this, but it's a troubling aspect of this type of claim.

Making "complaints" doesn't do jack shit in the United States. If you want to prevent something from happening again, you sue for punitive damages.

[Trynn]

I think the hospital does need to be sued for something. They screwed up big time, if the details are correct. I don't like the idea that a doctor could just inject me with whatever the hell substance they feel like with no legal consequences whatsoever.

[DeFrauder]

I don't understand the value in the term "wrongful life". Unless a jury was filled with eugenicists, I feel that the term only benefits the defence. Medical malpractice seems to be an adequate enough term.

Stripping this case down to its bare bones---a women gets deprovera because she is likely to conceive a child with severe birth defects. The deprovera fails or the medical staff administering the deprovera make a serious error. A baby with severe birth defects is born. Either deprovera or the medical staff is legally responsible for the failure of the birth control. Both parties carry a lot of insurance for this---so pay it out. The child can then get the medical care s/he needs for the remainder of its life.

[Maggie Mae]

I don't understand the value in the term "wrongful life". Unless a jury was filled with eugenicists, I feel that the term only benefits the defence. Medical malpractice seems to be an adequate enough term.

Stripping this case down to its bare bones---a women gets deprovera because she is likely to conceive a child with severe birth defects. The deprovera fails or the medical staff administering the deprovera make a serious error. A baby with severe birth defects is born. Either deprovera or the medical staff is legally responsible for the failure of the birth control. Both parties carry a lot of insurance for this---so pay it out. The child can then get the medical care s/he needs for the remainder of its life.

Malpractice requires injury to the patient, which hasn't occured, IMO. The shot was supposed to prevent pregnacy. It didn't. It didn't cause the pregnancy. The child wasn't the patient, either.

[sockinshoe]

Malpractice requires injury to the patient, which hasn't occured, IMO. The shot was supposed to prevent pregnacy. It didn't. It didn't cause the pregnancy. The child wasn't the patient, either.

Arguably, childbirth/body changing over a pregnancy can be construed as a form of damage. Certainly if something had gone awry during the birth/pregnancy she'd have a malpractice case. Additionally, there could be mental damage.

[DeFrauder]

Arguably, childbirth/body changing over a pregnancy can be construed as a form of damage. Certainly if something had gone awry during the birth/pregnancy she'd have a malpractice case. Additionally, there could be mental damage.

Yes. Although, I would be careful with asking for compensation for stretch marks and weight gain and saggy boobness (body changing over a pregnancy type stuff) because it might trigger jury bias against the prosecution. Its not quite as horrible sounding as the term "wrongful life" but it certainly would disgust some people if they perceive that a woman is seriously complaining that her child should never have been born because it made her less attractive. The defence would have a field day with that.

In pro-life propaganda they love to use examples of women who had an abortion or doctors who justify abortion on the grounds that going through with a pregnancy would endanger the looks of a woman or that pregnancy is simply a risk to a woman's health in general.

I really am surprised that the people who try these cases have not come up with better terms.

[sockinshoe]

Yes. Although, I would be careful with asking for compensation for stretch marks and weight gain and saggy boobness (body changing over a pregnancy type stuff) because it might trigger jury bias against the prosecution. Its not quite as horrible sounding as the term "wrongful life" but it certainly would disgust some people if they perceive that a woman is seriously complaining that her child should never have been born because it made her less attractive. The defence would have a field day with that.

In pro-life propaganda they love to use examples of women who had an abortion or doctors who justify abortion on the grounds that going through with a pregnancy would endanger the looks of a woman or that pregnancy is simply a risk to a woman's health in general.

I really am surprised that the people who try these cases have not come up with better terms.

I was thinking less along the lines of saggy boobs/tummy pooch and more about stuff like gestational diabetes, extreme morning sickness, bed rest, and physical labour pains/pains resulting from a c section surgery. You do make good points regarding the way that language can impact a jury. However, there are lines of work where one's physical appearance and family planning matters. If this woman had been a dancer and had lost work/been unable to support herself, she'd have a case. Or if he were a bikini model, and she had a c section scar, that would impact her career.

[Mama Mia]

Yes. Although, I would be careful with asking for compensation for stretch marks and weight gain and saggy boobness (body changing over a pregnancy type stuff) because it might trigger jury bias against the prosecution. Its not quite as horrible sounding as the term "wrongful life" but it certainly would disgust some people if they perceive that a woman is seriously complaining that her child should never have been born because it made her less attractive. The defence would have a field day with that.

In pro-life propaganda they love to use examples of women who had an abortion or doctors who justify abortion on the grounds that going through with a pregnancy would endanger the looks of a woman or that pregnancy is simply a risk to a woman's health in general.

I really am surprised that the people who try these cases have not come up with better terms.

I think the terms , and the precise definitions of who can and can't sue, and for what, and for how long, is the real problem. The clinic screwed up. Their screw up means the family has costs they would not otherwise have. The clinic acknowledging the extent of the damage through payment to help the family makes sense. It's really unfortunate that the term " wrongful life " needs to be used. Or that using that term means that the parents have to say horrible things. The cynic in me wonders if that is entirely accidental, as it likely dissuades many parents from suing in the first place.

Medication mix ups are surprisingly common. Even today. Here is a quick site that has some numbers. I don't know if this particular sites numbers are completely accurate, or the goals of the site, but I do know it is a serious issue.

http://www.campaignzero.org/quick-cours ... on-errors/

[CaptainFunderpants]

I honestly feel for this woman. The thought of getting pregnant again terrifies me, I have nightmares about it. I have little doubt at some point I'd be put on bedrest, most likely delivering prematurely (definitely before 37 weeks). I can't afford another child, and we recently found out my husband has a genetic heart condition that luckily isn't so bad in him yet, but it can be one that if present and symptomatic is likely fatal.

If the clinic screwed up like this I don't know that I could abort in some circumstances, but I don't think a baby I was trying to prevent that will cost me money I cannot afford is something I could deal with, I would likely sue.

Sometimes your choices are the best of a bunch of bad options. To me if you choose to keep the pregnancy, then you consent to the pregnancy and the child's life in the process. An abortion should be covered, but that's it.

[paganhomeschooler]

snipped for length

I remember this. It was a lesbian couple who had chosen their donor, and they got shipped the wrong donor sperm. They didn't discover the mixup until one of them was already pregnant with the sperm from the donor they'd gotten shipped but wasn't the one they had chosen. They had ordered more so that the partner could hopefully get pregnant as well and their children would be blood relatives.

Apparently they live in a not particularly diverse town in Ohio and have some racist relatives, and have been told that it would be best for the little girl if they move to a more racially diverse area.

chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-sperm-donor-lawsuit-met-20140930-story.html

This is very local to me. It was all over the news here. They do live in a very, very white area. I highly doubt the woman never saw a black person before she went to the U of A, though. Unless she never left like the 5 square mile area that is Uniontown. I'm sure there are other mixed race if not children of other ethnicities entirely. I'm sure there aren't many, but there are at least a few. Honestly, in that area, it's probably more the homosexuality that will be causing a problem for them, not the biracial baby. I also don't understand the whole "going to an unwelcoming neighborhood" bit about getting the kid a hair cut. There are tons of places to go around here that are in non-ethnic neighborhoods that are more than able to cut that child's hair.

The sperm bank fucked up and should definitely be held accountable because they failed to provide the services rendered, but I think the parents are being a little bit exaggerated with how bad they think it is. It sounds like their family are bigger assholes than the area at large. Not that there aren't horrible people there. There are, but it just seems a bit over the top to me. I know many very, very kind, open minded people who live in the area.

[shedemei]

I just saw this thread now. The Fox article linked is actually just a summary of an article from a local Seattle news source. The original article addresses a few of the questions asked here.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/seattle ... ead/nnFwM/

If you must read the comments, enjoy the ones from guy that was hopefully trolling about speaking American.

[Phoenix]

How do you think it affects a child to grow up knowing that Mom and Dad were so upset over that child's birth that they sued for monetary damages? That they feel they need to be financially compensated because you're alive? If someone wants to sue because their child is breathing, they need to give up that child first, for the sake of that child's mental well-being.

As the product of a rape and treated second class my whole life since I wasn't the hoped for boy and having cost my family more money in medical bills than I ever want to think about.... I would say... you learn to live with it. Life is often not pretty nor does it always happen according to the "right" plans people make.

Despite everything there may be decent outcomes. I can't count how many unplanned pregnancies I know about that turned lives upside down only to have the resulting children become the light of their parents, grandparents or siblings lives. Oddly enough, I am the adult child who cares the most for the parent who forcibly brought me into the world. Not the others born under the proper and desirable state of wedlock.

Depending on how limited the child in this case is they may well never know a thing about the lawsuit and any funds obtained from it could be used for their care in the years ahead.

Yes it is complicated and messy but maybe not quite the travesty some think it is.

[polecat]

Yesenia Pacheco, a mother of two living in Seattle, was using the shot as birth control. Apparently, the clinic had given her a flu shot instead of her scheduled birth control. She got pregnant and the daughter has special needs. She is suing for "wrongful life."

Thoughts?

Article: fox59.com/2015/08/08/lawsuit-woman-becomes-pregnant-after-clinic-gives-her-flu-shot-instead-of-birth-control/

I haven't read ahead, so apologies if I'm just rehashing things that have already been said. First, the condition with which her daughter was born sounds particularly difficult (and possibly costly to treat). According to the NIH, "Bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (BPP) is a rare neurological disorder that affects the cerebral cortex (the outer surface of the brain). Signs and symptoms include partial paralysis of muscles on both sides of the face, tongue, jaws, and throat; difficulties in speaking, chewing, and swallowing; and/or seizures. In most cases, mild to severe intellectual disability is also present."

The clinic offered her a free termination. That would have been one solution that would have ensured she wouldn't have to carry a pregnancy she did not want. But not all people are willing to have terminations for religious or personal reasons. imo, her simply not wanting a termination does not mean she automatically consented to a pregnancy.

That probably sounds illogical. But I'm trying to think of a valid comparison. Let's say a doctor amputated the wrong leg. They offer to pay for the prosthetic device. Well, that's awfully big of them -- but that still doesn't let them off the hook for the wrong amputation in the first place. It's nice that the clinic tried to make her "unpregnant," for lack of a better term, but they were still negligent in the first place. I wonder why this isn't being called a negligence or malpractice suit rather than a wrongful life suit?

I can't accuse her of being in this for money only. The condition her daughter has sounds like it could bring hefty lifetime medical bills. Her daughter may also need care after the mother is gone. The woman had the right to choose a termination or not. Termination might have "absolved" the clinic of any further legal liability, but they don't get to wash their hands of this simply because the mother opted to not terminate. She was well within her legal rights to make her choice for her own body.

[jaelh]

I wonder why this isn't being called a negligence or malpractice suit rather than a wrongful life suit?

Wrongful life is the way that the damage is characterised.

It's a negligence suit.