A medical negligence case recently decided by the Supreme Court of Texas also has implications for pro-life issues.
“[S]ociety views a healthy child’s arrival as a net boon and a gift, not an injury for which to seek legal recompense,” Justice Rebeca Huddle wrote in her opinion of the court.
In July 2014, Dr. Michiel Noe delivered by cesarean section the third child of the plaintiff Grissel Velasco. Velasco claims that she also planned to have, and had paid for, a sterilization procedure known as bilateral tubal ligation (BTL).
However, Velasco’s medical coverage was paid for through the federally funded Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which does not cover surgical sterilization procedures.
Noe did not perform the tubal ligation after the cesarean section, but it is disputed whether Velasco was ever informed that it was not carried out.
About a year later, to her surprise, Velasco became pregnant with a fourth child. Noe’s office refunded the $400 Velasco had paid for her BTL, and she delivered a healthy baby girl, who is now eight years old.
However, Velasco sued Noe for a type of medical negligence, which some states refer to as ...
