Can You Sue for an Unwanted Pregnancy Following a Botched Tubal Ligation Procedure?

Imagine discovering that you’re pregnant after you’d done everything possible to ensure that you’d never get pregnant again.  Whether it was a health issue, a financial decision, or just that you did not want to have a child, you chose surgical sterilization to eliminate the possibility. The shock–perhaps even agony–of the pregnancy is overwhelming because you’d had a surgical procedure precisely to avoid this outcome. Now you have to address the emotional, financial, and legal issues facing this situation–one that you’re facing because your doctor failed to properly perform a tubal ligation. The surgery didn’t work. What now?

Can You Sue?

In addition to having to make decisions about whether to have–or keep–this baby, cascades of issues are coming at you left and right. You may be thinking about your health, family dynamics, career, and more. And bubbling beneath all of it is the anger and resentment that you are in this position due to someone else’s failure: the medical professional who got it wrong. Is a personal injury lawsuit a viable option? Historically, society has viewed the birth of a healthy baby as a blessing–a thoroughly joyful and positive experience. Courts have been reluctant to address damages for what a mother may believe is a “wrongful pregnancy” because it was difficult to consider a healthy child a harm. Nonetheless, most states, including Maryland, now allow for such cases to proceed if negligence was a causal factor.

What You Need to Know

The law requires that before filing a lawsuit you must file a claim with the Maryland Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office. If no resolution occurs, the next step is a civil suit, which must be filed within three years of your pregnancy or five years of the failed surgical sterilization procedure, whichever comes first. While sometimes tubal ligation fails, it is not always due to a physician’s negligence.  It will be necessary to prove that improper sterilization techniques were performed resulting in an unwanted pregnancy in order to succeed with a civil suit. This means you will need experts in the field to testify that it was the medical team who failed you, not nature.

Potential Compensation

A successful lawsuit could mean that you get reimbursed for the cost of the failed sterilization, as well as the costs associated with your pregnancy and childbirth. But it doesn’t stop there. Potentially, you could even recoup money to address your pain and suffering, as well as the costs attendant to raising your child.

Your Advocate

The aggressive and experienced La Plata & Waldorf personal injury attorneys at The Law Office of Hammad S. Matin, P.A. always fight to achieve the best possible outcomes for you. To discuss, schedule a confidential consultation today.

Source:

msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/25ind/html/42healcf.html