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.
I take it you are a big supporter of "designer babies" and you think that "globs of cells" should be tested in the womb and if everything doesn't meet the parents specifications then the "glob of cells" should just be "discarded"?
The woman's husband is not the baby's biological father, how does this translate to "something wrong" with the baby (which you refer to as an "it").
Do you also support "post birth abortions" where if a child of say fifteen doesn't meet their parents' expectations, they are simply "discarded"?
This just goes to show on how many levels this kind of tampering is a really touchy thing.
Consider this: the clinic should be liable for the expenses associated with raising Jessica. How much? When she's 18 and ready for college, tuition should be around $80-100K by that time. And there's food, clothes, medical up until then!
Howard J. Stern? Is this Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer?
They probably liked you when you were two or three.
I have a feeling they love the thought of $$$$$$$$ more than they love the little girl.
There was nothing "wrong with it"! The child is the innocent potential victim here. Yes, the lab made a mistake, but the child should absolutely not be made to pay the price for that mistake.
I think the parents are being quite selfish. A child isn't like carpet, where you send it back if it's the wrong color.
What if they had conceived naturally, but the child was born with defects? Would they be anxious to be rid of it then?
Perhaps they should just think of the mistake like a birth defect of one kind or another. It's a challenge, but certainly not an insurmountable one.
I see you found an even stupider statement than the one about the skin getting lighter over time. Actually, it's not as dumb as it sounds. My son was born with a dark tan, which faded over a few days, until eventually he was pink like all the other little white babies. Maybe it was all that time I spent at the beach. ; ) But I'm going to guess this baby was quite a bit darker.
What child of 15 has ever met their parents' expectations? If post-birth-abortions were allowed up to that age, there would be about three adults in the world.
What child of 15 has ever met their parents' expectations? If post-birth-abortions were allowed up to that age, there would be about three adults in the world.
I probably shouldn't have suggested it, the culture of death will run with it.
Who's to say that this doesn't happen all the time, and is only noticed when the baby's skin color is not as expected?
The whole problem here is a lack of unconditional love. Any child they have will find out quickly enough that Mommy and Daddy only love them if they meet certain standards.
The parents attitude is very eugenics based:
- They do not look at this little baby as a child of God in her own right. They look at her as a possession.
- They lack any sort of faith that would show them that God has a purpose in everything he does.
- They were the ones who went to the doctor and asked him to play god -- now they are dissatisfied with his human efforts. I wonder if they have even considered the fact that several fertilized eggs have already been discarded or are slated to be killed for use in some macabre science experiment.
"Only the useless ones."
That was this thread.
74 responses and no one mentioned this part:
"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."
Sounds to me like the mother was born with dark skin herself but the baby's skin was even darker.
They expected a hue between the husband's and hers, I guess.
For the sake of the child, they've got to stop this. My kids don't "look like" me and two have dark skin - I'm an adoptive parent. Those kids have enough issues to deal with when they are wholeheartedly loved for who they are - she sure doesn't need her mom telling the world she was a "mistake"!
I guess that can happen with invitro.
A question arises, though.....If she could produce eggs and he could produce sperm, I wonder why they went this route?
*discarded????? A human being????? We're talking about a person here.
Unless you mean like an old shoe that you don't want anymore because it doesn't match your clothes?
Or do you mean murder the baby before it was born?
Welcome to FR, newb.
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.