8mm
Posted on 07/31/2007 4:17:12 PM PDT by wagglebee
Tallahassee, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Florida pro-life advocates are condemning a recent Florida court case which saw a couple receive $23.5 million for the so-called "wrongful birth" of their child. Daniel and Amara Estrada received the award after a court found their physician should have warned them their baby could have physical disabilities.
The Estradas had given birth to their first child, Aiden, who was born with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome.
Children afflicted with the condition have small heads, webbed toes, are unable to communicate and require feeding tubes to receive food and water.
A Tampa jury awarded the couple money to raise their second child, Caleb, who was also born with the disability. The couple sued Dr. Boris Kousseff of the University of South Florida, who gave them the go-ahead for a second pregnancy and did not warn them of the 25 percent possibility their second child could have the syndrome as well.
Kousseff, the couple contended, could have caught the disease with a simple test and given the Estradas the option of having an abortion.
The couple said in their lawsuit they would have definitely killed their child an in abortion had the test come back positive.
However, Sheila Hopkins, the director of the Respect Life office at the Florida Catholic Conference, told the Catholic News Service the decision to award the money for the so-called "wrongful birth" was wrong.
Hopkins says the result of the lawsuit will encourage more doctors to promote abortion as a solution for parents of unborn children who are potentially physically or mentally handicapped.
"To call it a wrongful birth seems very odd," she told CNS. "Anyone can have children who have challenges. ... Who are we to decide what's a 'wrong' birth and what's a 'right' birth?"
"You don't put a price tag on the value of human life," she said, noting that many parents of disabled children find "a joyful presence in the family."
Because Dr. Kousseff works for a state-funded university health facility, the Estradas will have to petition the state legislature to get virtually all of the money the court awarded.
Hopkins said the Florida Catholic Conference would probably not lobby lawmakers to reject the award, but added she didn't think it likely that the legislature would pay the couple.
As George Greer demonstrated with Terri Schiavo, the Florida judiciary believes in killing the disabled.
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That is SO COLD.
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This sickens me, and not just because I live in Florida.
These suits can also be filed in incidences of botched abortions.
And everyone wonders why health care costs are high.
23.5 mil for a could have and a should have.
You know, if these parents already had one child with the disease how can they possibly blame their doctor for their decision to get pregnant again? This isn’t an age where information isn’t widely available, and it isn’t like if they were really doing all they could for the first child they couldn’t have known of the risks for the second child having the same genetic defect... Wouldn’t that be the FIRST thing on their minds??? I know it would have been on mine...
This is such a slippery slope. I can see in the near future where doctors will be blamed for not warning of all sorts of supposedly “preventable” genetic defects. Even by people who KNEW there was a possibility of their child inheriting a disorder (i.e. family histories) and also those who are just greedy. This will only hasten the work of those who believe in eugenics, as well as driving up the prices for pre-natal care (due to increased insurance costs for obstetricians) thus leading to more children being born ill (due to more people being unable to afford quality care). How incredibly sad...
There is no such thing as wrongful birth, and the courts know it.
One of the most evil things I have ever heard of.
I wonder what happens to the baby? If it’s “wrong” for it to be born, will they keep it, put it up for adoption, expect the state to keep it in an institution or what?
In England some doctors have been petitioning for a 3-month period AFTER birth to legally kill a child in a situation like this. If we start defining a birth as “wrong” it’s not far off from justifying infanticide.
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