SAD $2M WIN FOR BEING BORN

NY Post ^ | 10/2/2002 | Aly Sujo

[astudent]

Actually, this seems quite logical to me. After all don't you know many people who have been born, but shouldn't have been. Think of Saddam and Osama. I believe it makes quite a bit of sense to find out who were the doctors who brought these two onto the earth and sue the doctors.... Actually.... an even better thought: Let's sue the mothers of the doctors who brought Saddam and osama. There. Now i said it. Pretty soon every one will have their candidate of who should not have been born. My first choices would be .......

[Mygirlsmom]

I don't get it. The first part of the article makes it sound as if this person has decided for himself that life with his disabilities is just too difficult. However, if he truly has the capacity of a 2-year old, he would be blissfully ignorant of his condition. So who is it that is really saying his life is not worth living - the man or the people caring for him?

[Dakmar]

Or the people exploiting this unfortunate soul to catch 80% of the settlement?

[smalltown]

The "would have terminated the pregnancy" argument makes this case much uglier than it would have been otherwise.

The lawyers probably made a reasonable case that the university was grossly negligent in not detecting the mother's chromosomal abnormality. It seems that they would have better argued that, had she known, the mother would have elected to have sterilization surgery, rather than bringing abortion into the mix.

In any case, if there was any degree of error on the part of the university, with a severely retarded young man sitting if front of the jury during the trial, a sympathetic verdict which caused the hospital to pay for his lifetime care was probable, and IMHO not altogether a bad thing.

[MHGinTN]

So who is it that is really saying his life is not worth living - the man or the people caring for him? The family that needs the cash to care for him.

[giznort]

Your reply caught my attention. I personally know of a couple (in their 40s) who have been married 20+ years and had "problems" conceiving...something wrong with his sperm and ???? Then, a miracle happens. She conceives. Doesn't really accept that she's PG until 5 months or so along. Continues her cocktails, beers, and cigarettes (all pretty much more than moderate) each and every day and night. No folic acid, by the way. After she's about halfway through pregnancy and discovers she's pregnant, she makes a doctor visit. Life goes on. She approaches delivery date. Their story is that the doctor has tickets to a Green Bay Packer game, so he induces labor on mom just a few days before scheduled delivery date. Baby is born, later, believed to have suffered a stroke.

Bottom line now is not parents' fault or their ability to accept what nature deals them. I belive that a true measure of what a person is worth is how they deal with adversity. They are poor parents, sloughing the poor boy off with the paternal grandparents at every step of the way, and disregarding therapists' advise about bonding/interacting with baby. Baby will always be baby as long as he lives, blind, and not too cognizant of what goes on around him.

What really ticks me off is that now the parents are sueing the doctors, anethesiologsists (sp?....), etc., etc. They have a beautiful custom-built log home in a pristine natural area given to them by his dad, then try to block others from developing the lovely pristine land. I think you may get the picture that they want to "lock the door behind them" once they got in.

Sorry I prattled on at length, but in case you haven't already guessed, these opportunists piss me off. I wish that instead, they would concentrate on the little life that God gave them and do their earthly best with him. Sigh.

[heartwood]

if the mother had known she had this defect, she might have tested each pregnancy with amnio, in order to abort an abnormal baby. they also have a healthy 13 y.o. as well as the older girl. (I do not believe it is right to abort the handicapped)

[petuniasevan]

A severely retarded 20-year-old New Jersey man says he should never have been born

NO NO NO! This is an outright LIE! LAWYERS brought this lawsuit to enrich themselves at the expense of others. The NY Post writer is very slipshod in not pointing this out. No person with the abilities of a 2-year-old could even conceive of a lawsuit, much less put one in motion.

My grandmother's only son is institutionalized (he has cerebral palsy). Grandma looks at Uncle Chris as a gift, not some sort of damaged goods. She certainly would never have used a Nazi tactic like abortion to avoid the "inconvenience" of raising him. Instead, she and Grandpa did the best they could to make his life as decent as possible for someone dependent on 24-hour-a-day care.

[Marie]

John Moscatello Jr. claimed that if his mother had known she had a chromosomal problem, she would have terminated her pregnancy and he would never have had to live as a "multi-handicapped" adult with the skills of a 2-year-old.

That's a very articulate argument for someone with the mentality of a 2 year-old.

I wonder how he feels about being born. It sounds like his "mother" would rather not have had to deal with a disabled son. (giving my kids a hug now)

[EODGUY]

God bless you!

All human life is sacred and valuable.

EODGUY

[headsonpikes]

"Every life is important, every soul matters."

Exactly right. Thank you.

[JoeSchem]

Tony Soprano could fix his 'wrongful life' problem for a lot less than $2.4 million.