Wrongful Birth as a Cause of Action in New York

A wrongful birth claim is a type of medical malpractice lawsuit that parents may bring when they believe a doctor’s negligence deprived them of making an informed decision about whether to conceive or continue a pregnancy. In New York, courts have recognized this cause of action under limited circumstances. To succeed, parents must prove several elements that establish both the doctor’s duty and the link between the malpractice and the harm.

Duty

The first step is showing that a physician owed the parents a duty of care. In plain terms, doctors are expected to provide accurate medical information, proper testing, and timely advice so parents can make informed choices about reproduction. This includes running appropriate genetic tests, interpreting results correctly, and communicating risks clearly. The duty is rooted in the doctor-patient relationship, where trust and reliable information are central.

Breach

A breach occurs when the physician fails to meet the expected standard of care. For example, if a doctor overlooks genetic markers during prenatal testing or misreports the results, that can amount to malpractice. The breach is not about whether a child is born with a disability, but whether the parents were denied essential information that would have influenced their decision about conceiving or continuing the pregnancy. In this way, the focus remains on the physician’s conduct rather than the child’s condition.

Causation

Parents must also show that the breach of duty was the proximate cause of their damages. This means proving a clear link between the doctor’s mistake and the parents’ inability to act differently. Specifically, the parents must establish either that they would have terminated the pregnancy within the time allowed under the law if they had been given accurate information, or that the child would not have been conceived at all if the physician had acted properly. Without this connection, the claim cannot succeed.

Damages

The damages in wrongful birth cases generally relate to the extraordinary costs of caring for a child with a serious medical condition. Courts in New York limit recovery to financial damages, such as medical expenses, therapy, and specialized care, rather than emotional pain and suffering. This reflects a careful balance between recognizing the parents’ burden and avoiding claims that devalue the life of the child.

Conclusion

Wrongful birth is a narrow but important cause of action in New York. It does not question the worth of a child’s life, but instead addresses whether parents were deprived of critical information due to medical negligence. By requiring proof of duty, breach, causation, and damages, the law ensures that these claims are carefully evaluated and limited to situations where malpractice truly deprived parents of a meaningful choice.

Find the Law

“To succeed on a claim for wrongful birth, the parents must demonstrate the existence of a duty, the breach of which may be considered the proximate cause of the damages suffered by the injured party. . . . Specifically, the plaintiff must establish that malpractice by a physician deprived the parent of the opportunity to terminate the pregnancy within the legally permissible time period or that the child would not have been conceived but for the defendants’ malpractice.” Margulies v. Gardner, 2010 N.Y. Slip Op. 31514, 5 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2010)