[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.

[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)