Failed sterilization leads to wrongful pregnancy lawsuit (1 of 2)

Wrongful pregnancy cases are rare and controversial in Pennsylvania and the rest of the United States. Even so, cases involving wrongful pregnancy claims are occasionally allowed to be filed in courts throughout the country.

Essentially, in a wrongful pregnancy claim, parents argue that they are entitled to damages that were sustained as a result of a negligent sterilization procedure or abortion. Typically, the child involved in the case suffers from serious health issues and requires expensive care.

Recently, an Illinois appellate court agreed to allow the parents of a child who was born with a serious congenital disease called sickle cell anemia to seek "extraordinary" damages in a claim against a reproductive clinic and doctor.

The case involves an Illinois couple who both carry the genetic trait for sickle cell anemia, which results in a 25 percent chance that their children will have the condition. Sickle cell anemia causes many health problems as well as a shortened life expectancy.

The couple gave birth to a son with the disease and then decided that the mother would go undergo a tubal ligation so that they would not be able to have any more children. However, less than a year after the procedure, the couple learned that they were having another baby.

This baby, too, was born with sickle cell anemia and it was determined that the doctor had erroneously left one of the woman’s ovaries and fallopian tubes intact. The couple sued the reproductive clinic and doctor who performed the procedure for medical malpractice and wrongful pregnancy.

Please check back later this week for more information on this medical malpractice case.

Source: The Cook County Record, “Panel: parents in wrongful pregnancy suit may seek extraordinary expenses,” Kenneth Lowe, March 3, 2014