Cases

Scope of damages recoverable in a “wrongful life” case:

“This case presents the question of whether a child born with an hereditary affliction may maintain a tort action against a medical care provider who—before the child’s conception—negligently failed to advise the child’s parents of the possibility of the hereditary condition, depriving them of the opportunity to choose not to conceive the child.”

The Court concluded “that while a plaintiff-child in a wrongful life action may not recover general damages for being born impaired as opposed to not being born at all, the child—like his or her parents—may recover special damages for the extraordinary expenses necessary to treat the hereditary ailment.”