The Causes of “Wrongful Life” Suits: Ruminations on the Diffusion of Medical Technologies

Author:

Furrow Barry R.

Abstract

New causes of action in tort law do not simply emerge, fully grown, like Athena from the head of Zeus. They develop as a result of a struggle between older case law on the one hand and the need to respond to an emerging problem on the other. This metamorphosis can be seen in many areas of jurisprudence, but most notably in the fields of products liability and medical malpractice litigation.The explosion in products liability litigation, for example, is linked in part to the vastly increased proliferation of a variety of consumer goods and to new forms of marketing mechanisms for selling these goods, so that consumers are exposed to a wider range of risks. Medical malpractice litigation in the “wrongful life” area similarly reflects not only a change in social values toward abortion, but also changes in the perceived ability of medicine to detect and predict defects in the unborn fetus or the likelihood of such defects based upon the genetic history of the potential parents.

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Subject

General Medicine

Reference39 articles.

1. 18. Handler, Justice , in his opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, argued that the child should also be able to get damages since he shares the familial injuries and suffers harm beyond that of the parents. The child's additional harm is based upon a notion of diminished life—a form of suffering caused by the diminished capacity of the parents to deal with him, coupled with his existing physical ailment and its inherent limitations. He praised the majority opinion for coming half way toward this goal: The familial nature of the tort is acknowledged. We have given voice to the common understanding that the physician's professional duty and responsibility, in treating a patient in matters involving procreation, pregnancy and childbirth, extend to that person not simply as an individual but as a member of a family whose entire welfare is bound up in the patient's health and well-being. Id. at 846.

2. 24. Clark v. United States, 402 F.2d 950, 953 (4th Cir. 1968) (blocked ureter, issue of intravenous pyelogram or cystoscopic examination as standard diagnostic procedure) quoting Smith v. Yohe. 194 A.2d 167, 173 (Pa. 1963).

3. 11. Id. at 488.

4. 15. Id. at 839.

Cited by 3 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome;Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects;1984

2. Wrongful Life — Its Problems are Not Just Semantic: A Reply to Furrow;Law, Medicine and Health Care;1982-10

3. Diminished Lives and Malpractice: Courts Stalled in Transition;Law, Medicine and Health Care;1982-06

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