Yeah, tell me about it, I have 2 in diapers at home and a mentally ill teenage stepson.
I haven't called Jackie Chiles yet either.
Posted on 07/25/2007 5:23:17 AM PDT by monomaniac
Couple Receives over $21 Million Dollars for "Wrongful Birth" of Handicapped Son
Florida Right to Life says, "now we're holding doctors responsible to deliver a perfect baby"
By Elizabeth O'Brien
TAMPA, Florida, July 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A judge has awarded over $21 million dollars to a couple for the "wrongful birth" of their second handicapped son. The couple would have aborted the child if they had known about his disability, the Tampa Bay Tribune reports.
Daniel and Amara Estrada have two sons who are both physically handicapped with the same genetic disorder, Smith-Lemli-Opitz, which does not allow them to properly synthesize cholesterol. The children have difficulty walking and must be fed through a feeding tube. They also have smaller heads and other physical abnormalities.
After the first son was born, the couple's doctor, Boris Kousseff, from the University of South Florida (USF), told them that they would be able to have other normal children and did not diagnose the problem as hereditary. Consequently, when their second son Caleb was born with the same disorder, the couple sued the doctor and the USF.
"He says you have the same chance of anyone else in society of having a normal child. He doesn't tell the truth," said the family's attorney Christian Searcy, Tampa Bay My Fox reports. The judge ruled that the couple will receive over $21 million dollars in recompense for the negligence of the doctor.
The couple claimed that if they had had a proper diagnosis after the birth of their first child in 2002, they could have determined by a pregnancy test that the second son Caleb had the same disorder. According to the lawsuit, if the couple had known this, they would have aborted him, the Associated Press reports.
Commenting on the situation, president and spokesperson for Florida Right to Life Lynda Bell told LifeSiteNews.com, "How bizarre that in our nation, not only have we become a throw-away generation, including our babies that are not perfect, but that now we're holding doctors responsible to deliver a perfect baby. I think this is absurd, and I think this court is opening up a Pandora's box to all types of litigations that say, 'it's not just a matter of nature, now I can hold a doctor accountable for an imperfect child.'"
Bell stated, "Doctor's may feel that they have a responsibility to lead people to abortion just so there's not a lawsuit." She continued, "I'm not going to weigh in on whether or not the doctor was negligent without knowing all the facts of the case, but I think there's a very fine line between a negligent physician and having him being responsible for an unborn child, whether or not it is perfect." She also said that the doctor might have been sued legitimately for negligence, but not for "wrongful birth". "Doctors are not God," she said, "they're physicians."
This story is similar to the case of an Austrian doctor in 2006 who was threatened in court with paying lifetime support costs for a young girl who was born with Down's syndrome. The mother claimed that she would have aborted her daughter if she had known about the child's condition early enough (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06071402.html).
Similarly, in 2003 a British Columbia, Canada court ruled that Dr. Ken Kan of Richmond must pay $325,000 for "wrongful birth", after he failed to diagnose that a child had Down's syndrome. The mother claimed that their handicapped child's birth "totally disrupted our plans," and caused the couple's marriage to fall apart (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/jan/03013005.html).
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
CANADIAN DOCTOR SUED FOR WRONGFUL BIRTH
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/1997/dec/97121001.html
WRONGFUL BIRTH SUITS IN CANADA
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/1998/dec/98121801.html
When What Seems Broken is Perfect: The Mother of a Disabled Child Tells her Story
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06072006.html
Earlier Screening for Down's Syndrome May Fuel Eugenic Program Against Disabled
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05111002.html
They know all this, they have two other sons with this condition, they know what causes it, and they have the brass to sue somebody because they just keep on keeping on? What ever happened to personal responsibility? And they cannot fall back on the old catholic no birth control wheeze if they were willing to abort. SOme justice system.
Ob’s take call 24hrs a day ... don’t get paid for phone calls, filling out forms, the list could go on. Also, docs are still paying off loans for college, let alone med school. So don’t go on about how much folks are paid, please. CP lawsuits are won and lost based on junk science. While docs may make mistakes, the science points to prenatal events as the cause of cp, no matter how many slip and fall lawyers say differently. And we all pay the price.
WOW! Guess what? I have 2 severely handicapped sons requiring medication every 4 hours around the clock. I still have not talked to a lawyer about sueing!
Please re-read my post, my point was no profession believes it is overpaid. That is human nature.
I agree with you on the lawsuits. I have argued it should be decided administratively in the government. No courts involved. Just a team of medical experts(with actual medical degrees) to determine if wrong doing. And then along with peoples insurance to determine the resulting costs of the damage done.. and if disciplinary action is neccessary against the doctor.
He got his advice from Hugh Heffner.
This would work. It's called "no fault" insurance. Not only would it provide for "adverse outcomes", directly to the patient without a lawyer taking his "third plus expenses" but it would add to the greater knowledge and improvement of medical care, since you wouldn't have medical professionals with a "fortress" mentality.
It's ridiculous to think that any human being can function throughout a whole career without errors. With a system like you suggest, they could "come in from the cold" and deal with problems.
The wrongful birth concept and title was tossed in by the editorializing journalist. The doc was sued for failure to correctly diagnose the first kids disease and give subsequent prudent genetic counseling based on the disease the first kid presented. IOWs, it's a simple malpractice suit.
Is their care so expensive that you’re going bankrupt?
Oh.My.God.
We are spinning down the drain,folks.
One bizarre news item after another,day after day.
John Edwards,line one,please....
Lawyers get sued all the time for their negligent mistakes. Were you under the mistaken impression that lawyers either cannot or do not get sued?
Why? Who would pay the costs if there had been no lawsuit?
If this was a genetic thing, didnt the family have an “amnio” done? That would have given them plenty of notice. Of course, it would have been too late for an abortion, but at least they would have know about the deformity.
We had a case in our family where the Dr told my aunt that there was only one baby, and it was fine. The night before delivery, a nurse said that she heard two hearbeats. The Dr scolded her in front of my aunt.
Needless to say, the first baby came our great. Everyone was thrilled and didnt pay attention to the second baby. His head was caught in the birth canal with the cord around his head. Cut off from O2 for nearly five minutes, he was brain damaged and has been under 100% care since that date. Of course, that was in 1970.
No lawsuit. No complaints. They just took home the twins and have never left home since. No vacations, no time off. Now, if there ever was a case to be made....
Why? Was the doctor negligent or not?
That was one of the most ignorant and malicious comments I have ever seen on Free Republic. You should be ashamed.
3 million dollars will never pay for a lifetime of care. The 21 million dollars properly invested is just about what care of this nature will cost.
Yeah, tell me about it, I have 2 in diapers at home and a mentally ill teenage stepson.
I haven't called Jackie Chiles yet either.
Just a jest. My brother and best friend are lawyers. Though they have never been sued.
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