Posted on 03/07/2006 3:31:06 PM PST by Gelato
Ohio justices rule parents can sue for fetal test error
COLUMBUS, Ohio Parents can sue a doctor if a genetic screening misses a severe or fatal condition that would have caused them to seek an abortion, a divided state Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The 4-3 decision limited such lawsuits to costs associated with a pregnancy and birth, saying such parents could not sue for pain-and-suffering damages or repayment of the costs of raising a disabled child.
The decision was a partial victory for a Kentucky couple who sued a Cincinnati obstetrics practice and hospital that provided genetic counseling and told them their fetus did not have a genetic disorder that the mother carried. But the 8-year-old boy has the disorder and cant speak or crawl.
The finding overruled a lower-court decision that Richard and Helen Schirmer could sue for the costs of raising their disabled son.
Justice Maureen OConnor, writing for the majority, noted that the Schirmers had indicated they would have obtained an abortion if they had received the correct diagnosis. As a result, she said they could not sue for costs above those of raising a child without a disability.
The case was the first time Ohios justices had issued a definitive ruling on a claim of wrongful birth. A handful of states allow such claims by parents seeking compensation for the financial burden of caring for a severely disabled child or the emotional trauma of watching a baby die shortly after birth.
Attorney Frank Woodside, who represents Childrens Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, said the decision was correct.
Doctors had no involvement in the actual defect, he said, and the law doesnt allow damages if the disabling condition existed from the point of conception
The couple decided to continue the pregnancy because fetal testing indicated the child was fine. The Schirmers said they would have sought an abortion had they been warned.
Love your child. Don't kill it.
So doctors are now supposed to be God and predict all. I have been going to doctors for 14 years. Only last year did I receive a diagnosis. Doctors can't and never will know everything. It's not HUMANLY possible.
Secondly, every child is a gift from God. My parents now have two handicapped children. It didn't develop until highschool years for both of us, but it has been no less painful. Thankfully, my parents don't believe in abortion and would have wanted us anyway-even if they had known. Thank God for wonderful parents.
Time for the legislature to forbid this claim by statute.
As an Ohioan I am disgusted by this ruling.
How would you like to be the son or daughter of this couple and find out they sued a doctor because YOU were born!!!
So babies don't come with a warranty?
What are doctors' response to this going to be to this ruling? Err on the side of death?
The doctor thinks while looking at a sonogram: *Well, that's a funny-looking lump. It might be his foot, it might be a third arm.*
"Ahem. Mr. & Mrs. Jones, your baby is a freaking monstrosity. We recommend you abort now before the bills pile up."
"Oh thank you, Doctor. You're SO compassionate!"
They blame the doctors because their unwanted son lives.
A sad commentary on our society today.
I'm confused. Why is the doctor liable for a lab test being inaccurate? And even then, who ever said that ANY medical test is 100% correct? If the parents felt this strongly, maybe they should have aborted first, asked questions later.
Since the mother knew that she carried a gene for a horrible condition, adoption may have been the better decision for this couple.
To expect the doctors to be all-seeing and all-knowing is ridiculous.
I wonder if the doctors who performed the testing told her that the results were absolute?
Had she and her husband decided to adopt -- and the child later developed a condition -- would they then have sued the agency over what they deem an imperfect child?
Sounds like these folks wanted nothing short of what they viewed as a "perfect" child. They fail to realize that God sees no defect here.
I believe there are those who would try to sue God if they could.
This is just plain sick - and for the courts to even THINK about supporting such a position makes me physically ill.
Abortion on the basis of a genetic test is just plain wrong - particularly when you consider that tests can show a problem that never manifests itself (and isn't completely rare).
Someone please name ONE medical test today that is guaranteed to be 100% perfectly correct EVERY time, without fail, without error.
I'm waiting....
The mother should have done her homework. Or maybe she deliberately left out a few things about her family history.
Can the doctor countersue? Doctors aren't gods and depend on accurate information from their patients to do their jobs properly.
"Justice Maureen OConnor, writing for the majority, noted that the Schirmers had indicated they would have obtained an abortion if they had received the correct diagnosis. As a result, she said they could not sue for costs above those of raising a child without a disability."
This is why doctors today routinely advise abortion for women with any chance whatever of a problem pregnancy.
The voters of Ohio were not informed during their respective campaigns that these Justices would be such shallow idiots. Can we sue?
Amen, and thank God for people like you, rational and able to reason that.
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