Legal Questions

Abstract If a healthy child born as a result of clinical negligence in family planning techniques is a “blessing” which should not resound in child maintenance damages, can an exception be created for the birth of a disabled child? If so, should the law then permit a further exception for the disabled parent of a healthy child? And, even if the healthy child is not the proper subject-matter of compensation, is this the same as saying that those who actively sought to avoid parenthood suffer no “harm” at all? Exploring a line of decisions in the UK where such questions have recently arisen, the author discusses the problematic development of the reproductive torts and the question as to what claimants might now expect to recover when their reproductive plans to avoid parenthood are set-back.

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