Wrongful Birth: I Wish You Were Never Born
How much are your kids worth to you? If you have no children, try
to imagine how much you were worth to your parents when you were
young. I suspect many readers will be thinking, "You can't put a
price on children! They're priceless!" The law is often
placed in the unfortunate position of having to put a price on life,
however. With that in mind, what dollar value would you place on
a child? I'm not a betting man but I'll go ahead and guess that
nobody came up with NEGATIVE $21 MILLION! Negative $21 million is exactly the number a jury in Florida came up with. What's even more shocking is that the parents, Daniel and Amara Estrada are happy about it!
The Estrada's two children are both alive... which is apparently the problem. A doctor misdiagnosed a birth defect in their first son so they decided to have a second son... who ended up having the same problem. The parents' argument is essentially that had they known their second son was going to be "bad" like the first, they would have killed him when they had the chance (by terminating the pregnancy). As a result, the Estrada's have successfully won a lawsuit for the wrongful birth of their second child. They will get $21 million to compensate them for their second child being born, effectively valuing the child at negative $21 million.
A common exercise in Torts class involves applying legal rules to sometimes ridiculous hypotheticals. This case inspired me to write a hypothetical of my own. Suppose the Estradas are on their way home from the bank (having just cashed the $21 million check to compensate them for their baby) and they are blind-sided by a drunk driver. The damage is severe and they are seriously messed up (missing limbs, permanent disability, excruciating pain, etc.). Their total damages are $42 million. They have no problem winning their law suit against the drunk driver and collect the money. Now let's throw a twist in there: When the drunk driver hits the Estrada's car, their two children are also inside. The children are even worse off than the parents... so much worse off that they die. How much does the drunk driver owe the Estrada's now? According to my math they get absolutely nothing! After all, the value of their children has already been determined to be negative $21 million a piece, right? Something tells me that's not how the case would play out!
The Estrada's two children are both alive... which is apparently the problem. A doctor misdiagnosed a birth defect in their first son so they decided to have a second son... who ended up having the same problem. The parents' argument is essentially that had they known their second son was going to be "bad" like the first, they would have killed him when they had the chance (by terminating the pregnancy). As a result, the Estrada's have successfully won a lawsuit for the wrongful birth of their second child. They will get $21 million to compensate them for their second child being born, effectively valuing the child at negative $21 million.
A common exercise in Torts class involves applying legal rules to sometimes ridiculous hypotheticals. This case inspired me to write a hypothetical of my own. Suppose the Estradas are on their way home from the bank (having just cashed the $21 million check to compensate them for their baby) and they are blind-sided by a drunk driver. The damage is severe and they are seriously messed up (missing limbs, permanent disability, excruciating pain, etc.). Their total damages are $42 million. They have no problem winning their law suit against the drunk driver and collect the money. Now let's throw a twist in there: When the drunk driver hits the Estrada's car, their two children are also inside. The children are even worse off than the parents... so much worse off that they die. How much does the drunk driver owe the Estrada's now? According to my math they get absolutely nothing! After all, the value of their children has already been determined to be negative $21 million a piece, right? Something tells me that's not how the case would play out!
FYI... I read my first PK III blog today.
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On a more serious note, how are they going to explain their great wealth to their children when they're older? "The doctor had to give us money because he wouldn't help us abort you"? Sheesh.
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Good point John. My understanding of this particular situation is that the kids will never be able to fully comprehend what their parents have done. Under the precedent of this case, however, it's certainly easy to imagine future cases where other special needs kids will be able to realize how much their parents value them.
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Silly cases like these really make me mad. I can't believe that the term "wrongful birth" even exists!! Its cases like these that cause such expensive medical attention. Doctors have to pay so much for their malpractice insurance that we all get stuck paying the price! Its very flat out stupid!
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comments like yours make me mad!! Instead of thinking of the price you have to pay due to malpractice insurance, think about the family who now have a huge emotional and financial cost due to this Drs negligence. The parents don't make the term Wrongful Birth, thats the legal system, call it Drs Wrongdoing litigation then, call it Drs Stuff'd Up litigation or Drs Responsibility litigation if you so dislike the term wrongful life. These case don't cause such expensive medical attention, the innocent disabled child requires the such expensive medical attention and this is why the parents who cannot afford this so that their children get a good quality of life, just like you would hope for your children or your neices, nephews etc, are left with no option but to take legal action against those who are negligent in their duties. If you have to pay a slightly higher fee at the Drs to pay for their insurance you should do so with a smile on your face, thanking your lucky stars that you may be fortunate to be in a position where your choice to have a happy, healthy child is not taken away by the professionally trained medical practitioner and you should think of those left fortunate who have to struggle through life thanks to the negligent Dr. It's a selfish way to be when you put a few extra dollars that you "all get stuck paying the price!" and compare that with a life of pain, suffering, enormous cost and very little thanks from people who think like yourself. I hope you live a happy, healthy and prosperous life as god forbit if something goes wrong with you, lets hope no one else gets stuck paying the price to help you in your hour of need. AND YES, I have a severely disabled son and YES I am undertaking wrongful life action so YES I know what I am talking about. For me, my son would not be here if the Drs were not negligent as I would not have created a pregnancy if they remembered to fully inform me of the genetic disorder which has caused my sons disabilities. Ever heard of donor sperm, fostering, adopting or even choosing to not have children. It comes back to being given choices but these Drs are too blazee and are on the money train, get the women in and get them out, make a million dollars, we aren't the ones left holding the baby.......
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I get really angry when people miss the point. The point is the children are so disabled they don't understand the parents sued because they didnt get to abort. That is the crux of the matter. These children born after neglegent advice now require lifetime care. Are you as a member of the community going to assist the family to pay for the children's care. I think not. Where are the parents supposed to come up with enormous funds, the taxpayer. Why? The taxpayers are not responsible, the negligent doctors are, if proven in the courts. If your child was born with major disabilities and your Doctor was negligent you would be the first one asking for help from the only source you can, the courts. Dont even pretend you wouldnt, the complexity of special needs and high support needs for disabled children is a huge expense, that's why the payout is so huge. People in this situation loose their house, dip into their superannuation, sell cars etc, just to survive as guess what, they are now retired so they can look after and care for their children, whilst you go off to work as your children are in school or daycare whilst you earn your living. Don't think these people and others in this situation don't love their children although circumstances have led to their births that obviously the parents wished had not occurred or changed, information and choice is what they asked for as is their right. If they didn't love them they would simply abandon them, not go to extreme lengths to ensure they have a dignified level of life. These parents should be applauded for standing up for their boys and ensuring that they will have all the care, equipment and therapy that they will require for their lives. If these parents didn't love their children do you seriously think they would put them selves through such serious litigation.
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... [edited for content]... If all the doctors in the world are so stupid, let's just get rid of them all. Then we'd be better off, right? If we want their advice then we have to be responsible and evaluate the advice. Nobody can be right 100% of the time.
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There is no need to get rid of all the Doctors and no one is saying we'd be better off. Yes, we want their advice, but being able to evaluate and make decisions on the CORRECT advice would be nice. It is okay to say no one can be 100% right all of the time but society needs to follow on with and accept that when the Drs are not right, that they have insurance and this needs to be used to compensate for that time when they made a mistake. Parents should not be judged and criticised for claiming for the needs of the child after the Dr made their mistake which has drastic and enormous effects for a lifetime. Responsible parents can evaluate the advice, but when incorrect advice has been given, evaluating the wrong advice does not assist them in having an otherwise normal healthy child like. Maybe we should just take away all of the rules and laws of society as no one gets it right 100% of the time, should we say it's okay for bank robbers, rapists, murderers, people who assault others just that one time as they made an error in judgement or they made a mistake by drinking too much alcohol etc. Shall we take away victims of crime compensation etc as "Nobody can be right 100% of the time" Shall we publicly judge victims who sue for compensation for loss of income, personal injury, domestic assistance etc due to the above criminal offences? I think not. WHY DO WE THEN PUBLICLY JUDGE PARENTS OF SEVERELY DISABLED CHILDREN BORN AS A RESULT OF THE DOCTORS NEGLIGENCE, THEIR NEGLIGENCE ALBEIT NOT "ON PURPOSE" as no one I assume even DRs set out to be negligent on purpose.
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