Posted on 03/21/2007 8:32:11 PM PDT by Calpernia
A couple who sued a fertility clinic after the wife gave birth to a daughter whose skin they thought was too dark for her to be their child may proceed with their lawsuit, a judge has ruled.
Thomas and Nancy Andrews, of Commack, N.Y., sued New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine, accusing the Manhattan clinic of medical malpractice and other offenses. They said the Park Avenue clinic botched the insemination of Nancy Andrews' eggs.
The Andrewses' court papers say that on the advice of Dr. Martin Keltz, the couple agreed to in vitro fertilization of the eggs with Thomas Andrews' sperm so they could have a child who was biologically their own. However, their court papers say, the clinic was negligent and used another man's sperm.
Three DNA tests - a home kit and two professional laboratory tests - confirmed that Thomas Andrews was not the baby's father, state Supreme Court Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam quoted the couple as saying.
The judge said the Andrews' complain that they have been forced to raise a child who is "not even the same race, nationality, color ... as they are.''
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, came to light Wednesday after the judge issued a decision that allows the Andrewses to proceed with parts of the suit while dismissing other parts.
The judge quoted the couple as saying that after their daughter, Jessica, was born Oct. 19, 2004, they knew something was wrong because of her physical appearance. The baby's skin was darker than either parent's, the judge wrote.
The mother was born in the Dominican Republic "and has a complexion, skin coloration and facial characteristics typical of that region'' while the father is Caucasian, the judge quoted the Andrewses' papers.
Nancy Andrews asked Keltz about this "abnormality,'' the judge said, and the physician told her the condition was normal, that the in vitro fertilization was done properly and that the child would "get lighter over time.''
The Andrewses say that "while we love Baby Jessica as our own, we are reminded of this terrible mistake each and every time we look at her; it is simply impossible to ignore,'' the judge's decision says.
"We are conscious of and distressed by this mistake each and every time we appear in public,'' the judge quoted the Andrewses' affidavit as saying.
The judge, in her ruling made public Wednesday, dismissed the lawsuit against Keltz, who had advised the procedure and had performed the embryo implantation.
She allowed the case to proceed against Dr. Reginald Puckett as owner of the clinic but threw out the case against him as an individual. Puckett has already been found liable for the alleged blunder.
In trying to have the lawsuit against Puckett personally and as clinic owner dismissed, his lawyer, Martin B. Adams, told the court that Puckett "did not examine, communicate with, care for or treat plaintiffs.''
The judge found Carlo Acosta, the non-physician embryologist who processed the egg and sperm for creation of an embryo, liable for the alleged blunder. She said his response to the Andrewses' claims "could not be weaker - it is nonexistent.''
The Andrewses' lawyer, Howard J. Stern, did not return a telephone call for comment Thursday.
ping
Racists?
>>>we are reminded of this terrible mistake each and every time we look at her<<<
This wording is so wrong is so many ways.
Howard J. Stern
Uh Oh...Bad move in a paternity case :)
wow
Doh!
Wrong turkey baster, I guess.
How......awkward.
Was the wife cheating? Who you gonna believe me or your lying eyes?!
while I don't dismiss their right to be indignant, if indeed the baby is not theirs, I question why they would push this lawsuit with such hateful language towards the little girl.....
imagine growing up with parents who get sick looking at you....
Oops!
It was clinical insemination.
Somehow, while I certainly sympathize with someone wanting the service they paid for, it would seem that if they really loved this baby as their own, they would forego a lawsuit in favor of not ruining this child's life. I mean, how must it feel to be this child, as she grows up understanding that she wasn't exactly what her parents wanted? Very sad.
susie
I found that very disturbing.
Good gravy, what a bigoted complaint. Simply deplorable. I hope the mother in this case still understands that she is the child's mother, no matter what the screwup at the fertility doc's.
I can see them suing for some kind of damages for the malpractice, but complaining that the infant is "not even the same race, nationality, color ... as they are" is awful. Many, many adopted children have a similar circumstance, and their adoptive parents are no less their parents because of it.
Lawsuit or no lawsuit. They still see the child as a mistake and are disturbed by her. I find it terrible that they feel like that whether it is texted in documents or thought in their minds.
They even went further and broadcasted it to the world.
I pray he is man enough not to hold any ill-will against this child
DNA testing is definitely needed here ... but I cannot imagine these parents rejecting this little angel either way. This is but one tiny aspect of why IVF is wrong as practiced now. If this child was not made a commodity at conception and now as a means to lawsuit, then there isn't any commoditization of human life.
Give it up for adoption. Their are many loving couples that wouldn't have the angst this couple has. Branjolie is a perfect example!
Makes me wonder if that child is safe and cared for. She obviously isn't loved.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.