Wrongful Birth
Wrongful birth
By: Kelly Vaughn
In March 2012, Arizona passed a bill that will prohibit medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors that withhold information from expectant mothers that may cause her to have an abortion. The bill is not currently a law yet in the state of Arizona but nine other states do have such laws. The states that do have wrongful birth laws are Pennsylvania, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, Minnesota and North Carolina. A wrongful birth is “ when parents of a congenitally diseased child claim that their doctor failed to properly warn of their risk of conceiving or giving birth to a child with serious genetic or congenital abnormalities.Thus, the plaintiffs claim, the defendant prevented them from making a truly informed decision as to whether or not to have the child.” A wrongful birth is a type of medical malpractice tort. It is not the same a wrongful life. In a wrongful life lawsuit, a CHILD sues stating they should not have been born. There are several elements in a wrongful birth lawsuit. They are as follows: * the existence of a patient-doctor relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff; * the doctor negligently failed to disclose to the prospective parents the risk of having a child with a genetic or congenital disease; * the plaintiff suffered harm; and * the doctor’s negligence caused that harm. According the bill that is trying to be passed in Arizona, there are several provisions. It is stating as doctor can’t be sued if he withholds information from the patient about potiental disabilities but the doctor can be sued in the event of "intentional or grossly negligent" acts and for any acts that violate criminal law. After researching the subject in length, I have come to the conclusion I have true mixed feelings about this topic. I know this is a very controversial topic and as a human and a mother, it is hard to understand how a doctor could possiblibly
By: Kelly Vaughn
In March 2012, Arizona passed a bill that will prohibit medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors that withhold information from expectant mothers that may cause her to have an abortion. The bill is not currently a law yet in the state of Arizona but nine other states do have such laws. The states that do have wrongful birth laws are Pennsylvania, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, Minnesota and North Carolina. A wrongful birth is “ when parents of a congenitally diseased child claim that their doctor failed to properly warn of their risk of conceiving or giving birth to a child with serious genetic or congenital abnormalities.Thus, the plaintiffs claim, the defendant prevented them from making a truly informed decision as to whether or not to have the child.” A wrongful birth is a type of medical malpractice tort. It is not the same a wrongful life. In a wrongful life lawsuit, a CHILD sues stating they should not have been born. There are several elements in a wrongful birth lawsuit. They are as follows: * the existence of a patient-doctor relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff; * the doctor negligently failed to disclose to the prospective parents the risk of having a child with a genetic or congenital disease; * the plaintiff suffered harm; and * the doctor’s negligence caused that harm. According the bill that is trying to be passed in Arizona, there are several provisions. It is stating as doctor can’t be sued if he withholds information from the patient about potiental disabilities but the doctor can be sued in the event of "intentional or grossly negligent" acts and for any acts that violate criminal law. After researching the subject in length, I have come to the conclusion I have true mixed feelings about this topic. I know this is a very controversial topic and as a human and a mother, it is hard to understand how a doctor could possiblibly