Posted on 12/13/2013 6:28:06 PM PST by Morgana
A couple in Washington state have won what is being called the biggest so-called “wrongful birth” lawsuit ever, when their doctor didn’t suggest aborting their disabled unborn child.
A jury in Washington state awarded a couple $50 million after genetic tests didn’t give the couple the information they wanted to know about whether their baby had a rare genetic disorder. Had the baby had the disorder, the couple planned to take his or her life in an abortion.
“Brock and Rhea Wuth of Burien, Wash., sued Valley Medical Center and the North Carolina company LabCorp after a genetic test meant to determine whether a child Wuth was carrying had a rare genetic disorder failed to do so,” UPI reports. “The Seattle Times said the couple knew based on their family medical history they were at a 50-50 chance of having children suffering from a rare but debilitating genetic disorder called “unbalanced chromosome translocation.”
This case comes on the heels of one from New Zealand, where a couple won their case at a federal appeals court because they would have aborted their little girl had they known she had spina bifida. The parents of a child with the condition could win a monetary settlement following the ruling saying they were “denied” a chance to abort their daughter.
During ultrasounds scans as the pregnancy progressed, doctors missed signs of the birth “defect” and the couple said that, had the spina bifida been detected, they would have killed their daughter in an abortion. Instead, the little girl was born in 2007 and the couple has been in court even since. The Court of Appeal ruling claims the couple “suffered a personal injury because of the misdiagnosis” and the case now returns to a district court.
More on this new case out of Washington state:
Knowing they were at risk, Rhea Wuth went to Valley to have her fetus tested. The hospital then sent the blood sample to LabCorp. The problem happened when the hospital failed to include crucial data about where the lab was supposed to look for a chromosomal defect — essentially a genetic roadmap for where the defect would occur if at all.
Lab employees never followed up to ask for the crucial information, missed the translocation and came back with a negative result for the disorder.
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
When the couple’s child was born July 12, 2008, he was found to suffer from the disorder. The child, Oliver, now requires around-the-clock care. He has an IQ of between 50 and 70, cannot run or walk up stairs and can’t speak beyond two dozen or so words his parents can understand.
The Wuths’ lawyer, Todd Gardner, said the couple was “incredibly responsible” in seeking out the testing and had they been given the proper test results they would have terminated the pregnancy.
My adult nephew can’t speak any words, yet he is loved by his parents, siblings, and his extended family. He also requires around-the-clock care.
God help us.
A future Top Commenter on Democrat Underground and quite possibly a Democrat Vice President
A future? How about CURRENT!!!
You know what? I can understand that this child did not live up to their expectations. Really I can understand. Every other kid is out playing on tricycles and their kid is what? Lying in bed still in diapers and most likely will be, forever.
However I would like to say this to Mr. and Mrs Wuths and I hope they are reading this now. Mr. and Mrs Wuths there are “Safe Haven Laws” in your state and yes they would have applied to you. You could have left little Oliver in the hospital the day he was born no questions asked. You could have told family and friends he was a still birth if you were afraid of stigma or what ever. There are people who would have loved to adopted Oliver. I understand you don’t want a baby like Oliver but believe me there are people in this world who do. Why on earth did you put yourself through the mental stress of a lawsuit when you could have left him at the hospital and this would have been over and done with?
By now you could have been pregnant again with possibly what you call a “normal” baby.
Was all this crap really worth it?
Morgana
If only the child could divorce and suit the parents for the 50M and leave them dry, the child would get better care.
50M says it was.
its a sad situation and they have made that much sadder due to their ruthlessness.
How much did the lawyers get?
The hospital I worked at for more than 20 years had an agreement with a nearby state psychiatric hospital to provide care for their residents.As a result we saw many of them in our ER when they were physically ill.Many of term were Downs Syndrome victims.I was always struck by how gentle...how “sweet”...they were,even when they weren’t feeling well.
How about if we abort the parents for having such inferior genes?
Probably a huge chunk of it...still there’s a lot to go around in 50M.
Prob 40%
I am very against abortion and Yet it is Too bad the parents were not aborted.
why don’t they just kill him now HE IS THE SAME PERSON THEY WOULD HAVE KILLED just before birth....what’s the difference (at least to him)????
Oh, give the “parents” a break...(sarc.)
They can now get new cars, new electronic toys and maybe a new house with granite countertops to impress their “friends”!
Let them enjoy their ill gotten gains here on earth—it may be at the expense of a glorious eternity with our Lord in Heaven, where their child will, without a doubt, be, but, HEY-—they’re gonna be “rich”!
That’s why Obstetricians now advise all their patients to abort — it’s pre-emptive action to prevent this.
What is wrong with this world?
Yet a marriage license was issued.
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