Posted on 11/10/2011 4:03:38 PM PST by wagglebee
JERUSALEM, November 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - “Wrongful life” lawsuits, in which doctors are held liable for not discovering fetal abnormalities that might have prompted parents to abort their child, have become so common in Israel that the government has set up a committee to investigate the issue, New Scientist reports.
According to magazine, wrongful life claims are more prevalent in Israel where a higher rate of genetic disorders caused by consanguineous marriages has fueled a “pro-genetic testing culture.” The county has seen an estimated 600 wrongful cases since the first in 1987.
While similar lawsuits in the United States and Canada are often brought by the parents of disabled children, it is common in Israel for the children themselves to demand compensation for the fact that they were not killed in-utero.
Asaf Posner, a medical malpractice lawyer who sits on the government’s Matza committee which is charged with investigating the issue, has obtained judgments averaging around 4.5 million shekels (about $1 million U.S. Dollars) for clients with spina bifida and cystic fibrosis.
Posner defends the lawsuits, arguing that the medical profession would “become corrupt” without criticism.
Rabbi Avraham Steinberg, a medical ethicist at Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, disagrees. Steinberg has criticized the lawsuits as psychologically damaging.
“I find it very difficult to understand how parents can go on the witness stand and tell their children ‘it would have been better for you not to have been born,” said Steinberg, who also sits on the Matza committee.
Steinberg claims that some malpractice lawyers are travelling to small communities around the country where inbreeding is more common in search of potential clients.
He also noted that the prevalence of such lawsuits has caused doctors to overstate the likelihood that an unborn child may have a disability, possibly driving an increase in the number of abortions.
“More testing means more false positives – and that means more abortions, because geneticists don’t always know if results indicating the possibility of chromosomal abnormalities are meaningful. I’d like to see a study of aborted fetuses to see how many are diseased,” he said.
Better dead than disabled? The insanity of that $4.5 million ‘wrongful birth’ case
That would fit right in with the Romulan way of thinking.
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Well if they are so upset about it, offer them a good cliff to jump or roll off of.
Money damages seem to be a gimmick IMO.
This sounds like satire, but I’m guessing its not. If true, a very sick trend.
It’s probably for insurance reasons. Have the insurance companies pay for the amenities they need to get through life.
I can’t imagine that most of them really think that being dead is really preferential to being alive.
Bookmark!
disabled children in Israel sue for wrongful life -— claim they should have been aborted
I'm sure that there is a member from the ROP that would help them, too.
“wrongful life” wtf? Next thing you know someone will say something crazy like, “I don’t want my daughter punished with a baby.”
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I feel sick
OUCH! Take yer tagline seriously, don't cha’!
There is mo case in which a “wrongful life” lawsuit has any merit. The act of filing the lawsuit is proof that the parents have failed in their job and raised a spoiled brat, but the lawsuits should all be dismissed. These greedy kids disgust me.
I manned a right to life booth years ago and a mother approached me with a seriously incapacitated child. She tried to set me up a little by asking wouldn't her child be so much better off today had she aborted it. I, of course, had sympathy for the child, but I asked her if she would consider killing him now. She was highly offended and said of course not.....I asked why not, it is the same person you would have killed years ago.....She actually smiled that her set up had not worked and told us to keep up the good work!!!
This doesn’t surprise me one bit.
An unusually high number of genetic problems because of consanguinity.
Jews are historically a fairly litigious people.
Modern Israeli society has huge gaps in regard to proper morality as well as a proper understanding of suffering.
Good for you.
I have had the same happen to me, and I usually point out my disability. :)
No, I am quite happy to be alive!
Not the area of law I specialize in, but I believe that none of the 50 U.S. states recognizes a cause of action for "wrongful life." (The article is about lawsuits in Israel.)
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