Simmerer v. Dabbas

The question raised by this case is whether damages associated with parenting a child born with a birth defect are recoverable in a wrongful pregnancy action stemming from a negligently performed sterilization procedure, when the doctor who performed the unsuccessful sterilization procedure could not have reasonably foreseen the birth defect. We hold that they are not.

I. Classification of This Action

To put this case in context, we first categorize the typical birth-based medical malpractice actions. In a wrongful pregnancy action, one or both parents of a child born following a negligently…