This page intentionally left blank The Troubled Pregnancy Mason looks at the legal response to those aspects of the troubled pregnancy which require or involve medico-legal intervention The unwished-for pregnancy is considered particularly in the light of the Abortion Act 1967, s.1(1)(d) and the related action for so-called wrongful birth due to faulty antenatal care The unexpected or uncovenanted birth of a healthy child resulting from failed sterilisation is approached through an analysis of the seminal case of McFarlane and associated cases involving disability in either the neonate or the mother The disabled neonate’s right to sue for its diminished life is discussed and the legal approach to the management of severe congenital disease is analysed - thus following Baroness Hale in believing that care of the newborn is an integral part of pregnancy Aspects are considered from historical and comparative perspectives, including coverage of experience in the USA, the Commonwealth and Europe Cambridge Law, Medicine and Ethics This series of books was founded by Cambridge University Press with Alexander McCall Smith as its first editor in 2003 It focuses on the law’s complex and troubled relationship with medicine across both the developed and the developing world In the past twenty years, we have seen in many countries increasing resort to the courts by dissatisfied patients and a growing use of the courts to attempt to resolve intractable ethical dilemmas At the same time, legislatures across the world have struggled to address the questions posed by both the successes and the failures of modern medicine, while international organisations such as the WHO and UNESCO now regularly address issues of medical law It follows that we would expect ethical and policy questions to be integral to the analysis of the legal issues discussed in this series The series responds to the high profile of medical law in universities, in legal and medical practice, as well as in public and political affairs We seek to reflect the evidence that many major health-related policy debates in the UK, Europe and the international community over the past two decades have involved a strong medical law dimension Organ retention, embryonic stem cell research, physician assisted suicide and the allocation of resources to fund health care are but a few examples among many The emphasis of this series is thus on matters of public concern and/or practical significance We look for books that could make a difference to the development of medical law and enhance the role of medico-legal debate in policy circles That is not to say that we lack interest in the important theoretical dimensions of the subject, but we aim to ensure that theoretical debate is grounded in the realities of how the law does and should interact with medicine and health care General Editors Professor Margaret Brazier, University of Manchester Professor Graeme Laurie, University of Edinburgh Editorial Advisory Board Professor Richard Ashcroft, Queen Mary, University of London Professor Martin Bobrow, University of Cambridge Dr Alexander Morgan Capron, Director, Ethics and Health, World Health Organization, Geneva Professor Jim Childress, University of Virginia Professor Ruth Chadwick, Cardiff Law School Dame Ruth Deech, University of Oxford Professor John Keown, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C Dr Kathy Liddell, University of Cambridge Professor Alexander McCall Smith, University of Edinburgh Professor Dr Mo´nica Navarro-Michel, University of Barcelona Marcus Radetzki, Marian Radetzki, Niklas Juth Genes and Insurance: Ethical, Legal and Economic Issues 978 521 83090 Ruth Macklin Double Standards in Medical Research in Developing Countries 978 521 83388 hardback 978 521 54170 paperback Donna Dickenson Property in the Body: Feminist Perspectives 978 521 86792 ´ rnason, Gardar A ´ rnason Matti Haăyry, Ruth Chadwick, Vilhjalmur A The Ethics and Governance of Human Genetic Databases: European Perspectives 978 521 85662 Ken Mason The Troubled Pregnancy: Legal Wrongs and Rights in Reproduction 978 521 85075 Daniel Sperling Posthumous Interests: Legal and Ethical Perspectives 978 521 87784 Keith Syrett Law, Legitimacy and the Rationing of Health Care 978 521 85773 The Troubled Pregnancy Legal Wrongs and Rights in Reproduction J K Mason MD (Cantab.), LLD(Edin.), FRC Path, FRSE Professor (Emeritus) of Forensic Medicine and Honorary Fellow, School of Law in the University of Edinburgh CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521850759 © John Kenyon Mason 2007 This publication is in copyright Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press First published in print format 2007 eBook (EBL) ISBN-13 978-0-511-29507-2 ISBN-10 0-511-29507-3 eBook (EBL) ISBN-13 ISBN-10 hardback 978-0-521-85075-9 hardback 0-521-85075-4 ISBN-13 ISBN-10 paperback 978-0-521-61624-9 paperback 0-521-61624-7 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate This book is dedicated to the ‘gang’ Graeme, Sharon and Geoff with great affection 304 Bibliography ‘Human(s) (as) Medicine(s)’ in Sheila A M McLean (ed.), First Do No Harm: Law, Ethics and Health Care (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2006), chapter 12 BBC News, ‘Cardinal Urges Abortion Rethink’, 21 June 2006 at http://news bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5099362.stm British Medical Association, 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Paternalism and the Fetus’ (2001) 27 Journal of Medical Ethics suppl II:ii15–ii20 Zucker, Marjorie B and Howard D Zucker (eds.), Medical Futility (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) Index abortion, 1, 14–52, 81, 196, 204, 207, 211, 216, 238, 239, 261, 299 ban, 30 criminalisation, 22 gradualist approach, 16–17 late, 54–66 live birth, 54 Muslim views, 78 registered medical practitioners, 25, 27 risk, to the mother, 28, 31 of fetal disability, 57 Roman Catholic views, 17–52 serious handicap, 58 three trimester rule, 19 under-age, 32–5 abortion laws, 25–32 attack on, 26–7 ‘bad faith’, 29 Channel Islands, 29 conscience clause, 29 in practice, 27–30 Northern Ireland, 28 reform, 30–2 abortionist, 15 abortus, living, 54 Ackner LJ, 206, 209, 212 adoption, 54, 108, 116, 117, 129, 140, 300 amniocentesis, 65, 77–8 anencephaly, 63, 260 ante-natal care principles of 66–79 counselling, 67–71 investigations, 63–6 Arthur, Dr., 254, 258, 295 Astill J, 184 Auld LJ, 94, 111 Australia information disclosure, 69 jurisprudence, 4, 167, 213 wrongful birth, 82–3 wrongful life, 213–24 wrongful pregnancy, 108, 125–41, 297 Austria, wrongful life, 300 312 Baker J, Scott, 268 Balcombe LJ, 19, 50, 263–4, 269 benefits rule, 107 Bingham, Lord, 77, 118, 167, 168, 169, 172, 173, 176–9, 180, 181, 182, 185, 298 birth live, definition, 20, see also viability unconvenanted, definition, ‘birth actions’, in United States, 80 Black, Sir Douglas, 255 Blair, J., 118 Bolam test, 9, 10–12, 13, 70, 75, 101, 283, 285, 294 Brazier, Professor Margaret, 27, 277 Bridge, Lord, 69 British Medical Association, 292 Brooke LJ, 21, 93, 105, 135, 147, 148–9, 154, 155–6, 182, 277, 279 Brown J, Simon, 41 Brown P, Sir Stephen, 270, 281 Browne-Wilkinson, Lord, 11 Butler-Sloss, Dame Elizabeth, 34, 83, 111, 248, 249, 250, 265, 278, 279, 282, 283 Buxton LJ, 143, 144–5 California action against parents, 195 birth torts recognised, 5, 199 Callinan, J, 134 Cameron, Lord, 124, 125, 137 Canada fetal/maternal unity, 44 wrongful birth, 82 wrongful life, 224–31 wrongful pregnancy, 107–8 Capron, Alexander, 6, 189 Cazalet J, 271–2, 279 Chadwick LJ, 184–5 child, ‘conventional’, 123–4 Index child, uncovenanted compensation for, 2–3, 84, 110, 143, 145, 149, 152–63, 298 in Australia, 128, 139, 140, 141 in Canada, 107 in the United States, 107 meaning, 4, 105 disabled child, 6, 7, 53, 126, 136–7, 145, 150–2, 188–90 et seq, 300 compensation for birth of, 3, 80, 84–99, 125, 298 in the commonwealth, 82 best interests, test of treatment, 246–50, 259–60, 262, 265, 268, 269, 274, 276–9, 280–1, 282, 287–9, 292, 293 emotional distress, 81, 85, 92, 153 management medical futility, 244, 246, 251 professional guidelines, 290–3 withdrawal of life support, 244, 255, 284–6 withholding and withdrawal of treatment, 245, 268, 284–6 withholding nutrition, 254, 255 substituted judgement, 248, 259, 293 child destruction, 20, 22 child murder, 242 chorionic villus sampling, 65–6 Clark J, 146–7, 148 Clarke JA, 199 Clyde, Lord, 115, 116, 118, 119, 120, 124, 138, 145, 150, 151, 170 Coleridge LCJ, Lord, 215 communication-based negligence see information based negligence compensation, 236 disabled child, 3, 80, 81, 82, 84–99, 150–63 and age of majority, 201, 240 healthy child, 96–7, 105–49 in the United States, 107 no-recovery school, 107, 132–4, 139–40, 145, 163 compensatory principle, 214–15 Conception human inviolability begins at, believers of, 37 congenital disability, causes chromosomal, 61 translocation defect, 61, 65, 73, 77, 88 combined effects, 63 environmental, 62 drugs, 62 haemolytic disease, 62 genetic, 196 313 Connell J, 265 consent, informed, 67, 76 see also information based negligence contraception, 1–2, 35–8 compensation, following failure, displanting methods, 37–8 interceptive methods, 35–7 contragestation, 22, 35 Cory J, 75 Council of Europe protection of of fetus, 48 Cox, Dr, 295 Crennan J, 220, 223, 224 Cullen LJ-C, Lord, 112 damnum, 86, 113, 180–1 Deane J, 130 delict, 87 diminished life, 237–9, 240 Diplock, Lord, 68 discrimination on the grounds of disability, 56, 235 Dixon, Clare, 183 doctors, abortion, 25, 27, 28, 29–30, 31, 33, 53 conscience, 252, 260, 264, 281 and abortion, 8–9 and clinical judgment, 261 see also, duty of care, information based negligence, medical negligence Donaldson, Lord, 209, 245, 247, 250, 260, 262, 263, 266, 274, 277, 282, 283 Down’s syndrome, 61–2, 63–5 cases involving, 72–3, 77, 80, 83, 192, 194, 203, 233, 253, 254, 300 Dunn LJ, 67, 247, 253, 256, 258, 269 duty of care, 9, 68–71, 103, 120, 133, 197, 209, 219, 220, 229–31 to the abortus, 55 to the fetus, 79, 206–9, 218, 236 to the mother, 54, 68–71, 79, 155, 207, 231 to the neonate, 229–31 Eastham J, 101 Elias CJ, 41 embryo in vitro, 17, 22 Epstein J, 191, 226, 227 Ethics principlism, 12 European Court of Human Rights, 31, 48, 292 euthanasia, neonatal, 242, 292–6 Ewbank J, 253, 256 314 Index Farquharson J, 254–5, 256, 257 fetal maternal relationship, 43–4 fetal rights, 17 feticide, 47, 48, 49, 50, 57, 230 fetus, 16–23 beginning of life, 45, 48 French law, 48 choice of abortion, 238 duty of care to, 79, 207–10, 218, 221, 225–6, 236 involuntary death of, 41–9 transferred malice, 43–4 moral status, 17, 18, 30, 40, 43, 299–301 protection in Europe, 47 unintentional fetal homicide, 47, 48 viability, 19–21, 22, 23, 40, 45, 46, 50 Fortin, Jane, 212 France, wrongful life actions, 231, 232–4 Fragile-X syndrome, 61 Fraser, Lord, 34 Gans J, 227 Garett J, 106 genetic disease, 59–61 history, 57 late-onset, 60 multifactoral type, 60 Gibson LJ, 104 Gill, Lord, 112 ‘Gillick-competent’ child, 33–4 Gillon, 246 Gleeson CJ, 128–9 Goff, Lord, 285 Griffiths LJ, 206, 209, 222, 238 Groningen Protocol, 293–5 Gudron J, 70 Gummow, J, 132–4, 140, 162 Hale LJ, 98, 137, 138, 139, 147, 149, 156–61, 162, 164–5, 166, 170, 175, 179, 241, 264 Hayne J, 129–30 Henriques J, 80, 92, 95, 124, 162 Heydon, 130–2 Hedley J, 252, 260–1, 273–5, 278, 280–1, 282 Hoffmann LJ, 273, 274 Hollinrake JA, 74 Holman J, 277, 278, 279, 284, 285–9 Holmes J, 127, 156 Hope, Lord, 76, 116, 117, 120, 122, 138, 151, 155, 171, 172, 174–5, 178, 180, 181, 182 Hoyana, Laura, 114, 119, 124, 165 Huntington’s disease, 60 Hutchison J, 73, 75 Hutton, Lord, 169, 171–2, 174, 175, 182 hydrocephalus, 266 Iacobucci J, 75 implantation, 35 moral significance, 17 starting point of meaningful human life, 17 infanticide, 242 information based negligence, 68–71, 196, 226 see also Bolam test causation, 71–7 duty of care, 68, 69 understanding, 78 intolerability of continued life, 247, 269, 276–9, 296 inuria, 86, 113, 180 Ipp, JA, 214, 216, 224 Islam, and abortion, 35 IUD, 35, 37, 38 Jehovah’s Witnesses, 251 Jennings J, 226, 227 Jotkowitz, 295, 296 Judge LJ, 186–7 Jupp J, 89, 108–10, 117, 136 Kennedy J, 105, 142–3 Kennedy, LJ, 184, 185 Kerr LJ, 94, 102, 110 Kirby, 7, 43, 83, 86, 123, 135–7, 140–1, 162, 220–2, 223 Kleinfelter’s syndrome, 58, 61 Lakin CJ, 72 Lambert, JA, 74 Laws LJ, 94, 144 Lawson J, 206, 237 Lax J, 134, 219, 224 Leggatt LJ, 263 Levenson J, 93, 94 Longmore, J, 151, 156 Lorber, John, 244 Lowry, Lord, 285 MacFadyen, Lord, 88 Marnoch, Lord, 89 Mason P, 214, 216–18, 219, 220 maternal serum tests, 64 McCluskey, Lord, 31, 113, 123, 158 McHugh J, 132–4, 140 McKenzie, J, 247 McLachlin J, 75 Index Maclean, Alasdair, 71 McLean, Professor Sheila, 18, 26 medical negligence, 9–13 et seq, 83, 218, 232, 235 see also information based negligence and abortion, 38–40, 229 causation, 12–13, 74, 76–77, 148, 197, 225 communication, 12, 68, 104 duty of care, 9, 68–71, 103, 124–5, 196, 236 immunity, 132–3, 136, 221, 285 general standard of care, 10–12 legal, 10 professional, 10 proximity, 147–9, 183 Millett, Lord, 116, 117, 120–1, 122, 138, 144, 151–2, 168, 169, 170, 172, 174, 178, 179 minors and abortion, 32 consent to treatment, 32 medical confidentiality, 32 protection of, 262 miscarriage, 15, 36, 65, 78 Morison, Lord, 89, 98–9 Morland J, 78 morning after pill, 35 Morris, Anne, 233, 234, 239 mothers disabled, 163–6 status of, 24 Munby J, 36, 37 muscular dystrophy, 87 Mustill, Lord, 43, 245, 299 negligent injury, 189 neonaticide, 57, 242, 295 Netherlands, 236, 293–5 neural tube defects, 62, 64–65, 260 cases, 54, 96–7 New South Wales, 86, 117, 125, 127, 141, 213, 216, 222, 297 New Zealand, 118, 213, 289 Newman J, 80, 90–1, 95, 115, 120, 124 Nicholl J, 152 Nicholls Lord, 73, 169, 174, 176, 177, 178 Nimmo Smith, Lord, 87–8, 89 non-treatment decisions, 251, 255 see also child disabled, withdrawal and withholding treatement Northern Ireland, 28 Nourse LJ, 102 O’Connor, Justice, 20 Ognall J, 111 Oliver, Lord, 125 315 Pain J, Peter, 2, 102, 105, 109 Park J, 115, 142 partial birth, 23 patients autonomy, 24, 71, 79, 86, 140 breach of, 77, 86, 100, 157, 179, 241 and choice, 12, 179 decision, 12 ‘reasonable’, 69, 73–5, 77 Pearson J, 239 personhood, 243 Pollock J, 221 pre-conception tort, 196–9, 224 causation, 197 pregnancy uncovenanted, 4, 84, 105, 160 unwanted, 1, 2–3, 4, 132 Priaulx, Nicolette, 177, 179, 180, 309 Priestly JA, 116 privacy, women’s right to, 18, 20 Prosser, Lord, 89 Purchas LJ, 102, 111 Queensland, 127, 141, 297 reasonable woman, 73–5 risk abortion laws, 25–32 and tort law, 154 Roman Catholicism, 17–52, 246 Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 290–1 Rubella (German measles), 62, 213–16 cases, 91–3, 202, 205–10, 213–16, 232–4 Ryan J, 197 Saintier, Severine, 234, 235, 239 sanctity of life, 140, 204, 242–4, 245, 263, 289, 292 Scarman, Lord, 29, 34, 101 Schneiderman, L.J., 246 Scotland, 22, 84, 113, 204, 212, 235 Scott, Lord, 169, 174, 178, 180, 182 Sharpe J, 227 Silber J, 34 Simon J, 78 Singer, S., 119, 121, 180 Skipp J, 228, 229–31 Slade LJ, 102, 110 Slynn, Lord, 113, 118, 119–20, 122, 123, 138, 150, 151, 155, 181 Smith LJ, Stuart, 72, 101 social security France, 233–4 Sopinka J, 75 316 Index South Australia, 141 South Dakota abortion in, 30, 37 Spigelman CJ, 44, 215–16, 223 spina bifida, 64, 160, 244, 294 spinal muscular atrophy, cases, 263, 284 standard of care professional, 69–70, 77 reasonable patient, 69, 73–5, 77 in the USA, 69 subjective standard, 69 Stephenson LJ, 205, 206–9, 210, 212, 218–19, 237 sterilisation already pregnant, 104, 143 breach of duty, 104–5 duty of care to partner, 103–4 natural failure, 100, see also tubal occlusion and vasectomy negligent, 100–5 non-voluntary, 100 voluntary, 100 reversibility, 101–2 Steyn, Lord, 67, 76, 115, 116, 117, 118, 121, 122, 125, 138, 145, 150, 151, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 173, 174, 178, 179, 182 Strasser, Mark, Stretton, Dean, 130, 216 Substituted judgement test, see disabled child syphilis, cases, 198 Tasker, Robert C., 244 Tay-Sachs disease cases, 82, 194 Taylor LJ, 269, 270, 274, 276 Templeman LJ, 188, 209, 228, 247, 257–8, 269, 276 thalidomide, 210 Thomas J, Swinton, 91 Thorpe LJ, 246, 248, 250, 279, 282, 287 Toulson J, 86, 91, 96–7, 98, 115, 124, 125 tubal ligation and occlusion, 101 cases, 103, 125, 126–37, 153, 164 Twaddle JA, 225 ultrasonography, 64 United Kingdom attitudes to abortion, 14, 18 ‘Bolam’ test, 70 child murder, 242 wrongful life, 204–13, 224 wrongful pregnancy, 108–25 United States ‘partial birth’ terminations, 23 privacy, 35 substituted judgement, 248 wrongful birth, 80–2 wrongful pregnancy, 106–7 recovery following, 107, 137 varicella (chicken-pox), 62 vasectomy, 100–1, 102 cases, 103, 106, 112–13, 125 ventilation, artificial, 268, 270, 273, 281, 282–3, 284, 285, 288 vitalism (absolutism), 243, 247, 268–9, 273 Waite J, 262, 264 Walker LJ, Robert, 137, 158, 164, 166, 170, 171 Waller LJ, 110, 154, 161, 162, 163, 166, 171, 174, 182 Ward J, 267 Warnock Committee, 17 Weir, Tony, 141, 231 Williams, Glanville, 56 women’s rights, 50 medicalisation of, 29 Wood JA, 74 Woods J, 198, 200 Woolf, Lord, 70, 71 Wright J, 37 wrongful birth, 4, 6–7, 122, 172, 216 Australia, 69, 82–3 Canada, 82 causation, 71 compensation, 84–97 Europe, 233, 234 lack of conceptual difference between wrongful, birth, life, pregnancy, 96, 133, 217–18, 219, 239 negligence, headings, 85 normal neonate, 86 UK, 75, 83–97 USA, 107, 199 wrongful conception, 6, 115, 145 wrongful life, 5, 7–8, 121, 189, see also preconception tort abortion, effect on, 211 Australasia, 213–24 Canada, 224–31 causation, 207, 217, 221, 225, 227–8, 231, 235, 236–7, 238 compensation, 192–5, 201–2, 235, 236 beyond age of majority, 201, 240 Index lack of conceptual difference between wrongful, birth, life, pregnancy, 210, 217–18, 219, 298 public policy, 209 refusal of, 216 United Kingdom, 199, 204–13 United States, 191–204 acceptance, 194–6 wrongful pregnancy, 4, 6, 172, 301 and abortion, 109, 116, 117–19, 142–143, 157, 300 and adoption, 116, 117–19, 127, 300 Australia, 125–41 benefits rule, 107 rejection, 123, 137 Canada, 106, 107–8 costs of maintaining a child, 139, 164, 175, 183 disabled child, 145, 147, 150–2, 158 healthy child, 2, 114, 118 ‘conventional award’, 177, 183 ‘deemed equilibrium’, 158, 165 317 disabled mother, 163–6 duty of care, 113, 172 history of in the UK, 108–25 in the US, 106–7 injury to the mother, 113 invasion of autonomy, 156, 179–80, 180–1, 185 lack of conceptual difference between wrongful birth, life, pregnancy, 96, 217–18, 219 legal policy, 135, 179 liability, 105, 119, 138, 150, 159–61, 172, 183 mother’s claim, 103, 105, 112, 114, 143, 177 New Zealand case, 116, 118 novus actus interveniens, 110, 115–17, 160 public policy, 109, 110, 117–19, 129, 130, 134, 136, 140 Zuber J, 82 ... Navarro-Michel, University of Barcelona Marcus Radetzki, Marian Radetzki, Niklas Juth Genes and Insurance: Ethical, Legal and Economic Issues 978 521 83090 Ruth Macklin Double Standards in Medical... Medicine and Honorary Fellow, School of Law in the University of Edinburgh CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press. .. Dame Ruth Deech, University of Oxford Professor John Keown, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C Dr Kathy Liddell, University of Cambridge Professor Alexander McCall Smith, University of Edinburgh