Thursday, November 16, 2006

Doctor Doctor, I'm pregnant!

And you're going to be paying for this for the next eighteen years...
BERLIN (Reuters) - A court ruling which ordered a gynecologist to pay child support for up to 18 years as compensation for botching a contraceptive implant was condemned by the German media as scandalous on Wednesday.

The Karlsruhe-based federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the doctor must pay his former patient, now a mother of a three-year-old boy, 600 euros a month because she became pregnant after he implanted her with a contraceptive device. "A child as a case for damages -- this perverse idea has now been confirmed by one of Germany's highest courts," conservative Die Welt daily newspaper wrote in an editorial on Wednesday.

The device is meant to protect against pregnancy for up to three years, but half a year after the operation, the implant could no longer be found in the woman's body, the court said.

While it should be welcomed that a doctor can now be held to account in the same way as a shoddy plumber, the newspaper said, how could a child whose parents had sought damages for its birth ever come to terms with the situation?
In addition to the highly private inkling that he was not wanted by his parents, he now has official confirmation that he was born by mistake," Die Welt also said.

The award covers the first years of the child's life and also subsequent costs to the age of 18.

The parents, who had known each other six months at the time of the conception, were no longer together, the court said, ruling that the father should also be compensated for the maintenance he was paying toward the child.

The ruling could spark a flood of similar claims against gynecologists, Stern magazine wrote on its Web site."

This rulinng is bizzare, I didn't realise contraception was supposed to be 100% fool proof.

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That kid is going to be one messed-up puppy.

1:27 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shhhjaysus

1:52 p.m.  
Blogger Andraste said...

Wow, Cat. You've been busy - three new posts today and I haven't even scrolled down...maybe there's more!

Yes, this is seriously fucked up. I wonder whom this mother is going to sue to pay for this kid's therapy sessions.

2:25 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

I haven't been busy, that's the sodding problem. I'm a bit stymied here in work today waiting for someone to get back to me, so rather than rolling up my bloody sleeves and getting stuck in I've been dossing about and tra-la-la-la-ing all over the sodding place.
Eeeek. I will overcommeeeeeeeeeeeee.

2:30 p.m.  
Blogger The Dog of Freetown said...

People don't let doctors exercise their sense of humour. I find that sad.

4:44 p.m.  
Blogger Sam, Problem-Child-Bride said...

What about all the babies that have resulted because the condom "broke". Will Durex now be expected to financially maintain them?

Bloody hell. Judicial decisions seem to make less and less sense more and more.

5:51 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Exactly, what about the 2% of pill failure? Can women now sue Johnsons or Procter and Gamble or whoever makes them.
This is a very odd one indeed. I betch in germany tonight is the gentle rip and snap as condoms roll out all across the land.

6:12 p.m.  
Blogger Greg Finnegan said...

Does the same thing apply to confession? If the priest gives me absolution but it was malpractise I still wind up in hell, can I sue?

Now I'll be up all night.

10:03 p.m.  
Blogger Fat Sparrow said...

Dammit, I got pregnant with my first kid while using The Pill and a rubber. No one told me I could sue. Where's my benjamins, beeotch?!

10:28 a.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

What a fecund fanny you must have FS!

11:08 a.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No, it isn't "Doctor Doctor, I'm pregnant", it's:

Woman: "Doctor, Doctor I want the contradictive pill."

Doctor: "You're ignorant!"

Woman: "I know. Six months."

6:54 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is why abortion rights are so important! Just get one, lady.

7:00 p.m.  

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