SCOTX Ponders if ‘Wrongful Pregnancy’ is Gift from God or Grounds for Damages

When a child is born to a mother who paid for and believed she had undergone a sterilization procedure, can she recover damages by bringing a medical negligence suit against the doctor, or does the birth of a healthy baby leave the mother without an avenue for any recovery?

The Texas Supreme Court is working to answer that question after hearing oral arguments Tuesday morning in a lawsuit Grissel Velasco brought against Dr. Michiel R. Noe for both his failure to perform the bilateral tubal ligation she requested and his failure to let her know the procedure had not been done. Velasco became pregnant with her fourth child 15 months after she thought she had been sterilized.