High Court Wants Boy Compensated For Being Born With Down Syndrome
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express http://www.inclusiondaily.com
November 28, 2001

PARIS, FRANCE--The Cour de Cassation, France's high court of appeals, has
ruled that the parents of a boy who has Down syndrome should be compensated
because he was born.

The boy, identified in media reports only as Lionel, was born in 1995. His
parents then sued the mother's gynecologist because the doctor had not
detected during the pregnancy that the boy would be born with Down syndrome.

A court agreed with the parents and ordered the doctor to pay around
$100,000 for medical negligence.

Now, the country's highest court has decided that the $100,000 is not
enough. The court wants the amount increased substantially because the
parents claim they would have had an abortion if they known he would be born
with a disability.

The decision reinforces another high court ruling made one year ago. The
court ruled last November that Nicola Peruche, who was born with several
disabilities, could sue his doctors because they had failed to diagnose that
his mother had rubella during the pregnancy. His parents also claimed that
they would have had him aborted if they had known he might have
disabilities.

Disability rights advocates who are trying to fight the Peruche ruling in
the courts were further angered by this new ruling.

"Certain judges in the high court of appeal still think it is better to be
dead than handicapped," said activist Xavier Mirabel.

For background on the Peruche case and other "wrongful birth" suits, check
out this Inclusion Daily Express webpage:
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/advocacy/wrongfulbirths.htm
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Forwarded to this list by:
Dave Reynolds, Editor
Inclusion Daily Express / Inclusion Weekly Review
Disability Rights Email News Service
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