The plaintiffs, who are both in their thirties, were conceived through IVF. The defendant is the reproductive endocrinologist who performed the IVF procedures for the plaintiffs’ respective parents. Unbeknownst to the plaintiffs’ parents, the defendant used his own sperm in the IVF procedures. The plaintiffs’ parents never agreed to the use of donor sperm, and no genetic testing was performed to ensure that the defendant was a suitable donor.
In 2019, the plaintiffs learned of the defendant’s deception through genetic testing. As a result, they learned that the men they believed to be their fathers were in fact not their biological fathers. In 2021, the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit alleging negligence, fraudulent concealment, lack of informed consent and violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, General Statutes § 42-110a et seq. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss the original complaint on the ground that the entire complaint sounded in medical malpractice. He argued that, because the plaintiffs had failed to comply with the requirements of General Statutes § 52-190a, the trial court had no personal jurisdiction over him. The defendant further argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing to assert their medical malpractice claims because he
and the plaintiffs never had a doctor-patient relationship.
The trial court disagreed with both contentions, concluding that, except for one plaintiff’s claim that ‘‘the defendant used sperm containing a disease causing genetic trait,’’ the plaintiffs’ claims were ordinary negligence claims, not medical malpractice claims, such that compliance with § 52-190a was not required. The court further concluded that there was ‘‘a sufficient nexus between [the plaintiffs’] injuries and the defendant’s alleged misconduct to give [the plaintiffs] standing to prosecute their claims.’’ The court agreed with the defendant, however, that the plaintiffs’ negligence claims sounded in wrongful life.
The Connecticut Supreme Court stated in its January 14, 2025 decision: “the plaintiffs’ claims differ fundamentally from wrongful life claims. Unlike wrongful life claims, in which ‘‘the defendant bears no direct responsibility for the child’s condition’’; id., 507; in this case, the defendant is alleged to be responsible both for the pregnancies and the alleged harm. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant’s unauthorized use of his own sperm to impregnate their mothers directly caused the harm of which they complain. As in Lynch, this is not a case in which the alleged injury is a condition for which the defendant bears no direct responsibility. See id., 508. To the contrary, it is the plaintiffs’ contention that the defendant’s deception is directly responsible for the mental anguish, physical injury and compromised familial relations they have suffered.”
“The plaintiffs do not claim that the defendant’s alleged negligence prevented their mothers from terminating their pregnancies, or that the plaintiffs would have been better off had they never been born. That is, the plaintiffs are
not asking to be ‘‘made whole’’ by being restored to a state of nonbeing; rather, they are seeking compensation for injuries and losses that they claim could have been prevented or substantially mitigated if the defendant had acted with due care. The plaintiffs’ injuries, in other words, were directly and proximately caused by the defendant’s misconduct. See, e.g., Maldonado v. Flannery, 343 Conn. 150, 189, 272 A.3d 1089 (2022) (‘‘[the law allows] a plaintiff [to] recover all of the damages suffered as a result of a tortfeasor’s negligence’’ (emphasis omitted)). In short, the present case bears none of the hallmarks of a wrongful life claim and is properly understood and can be properly adjudicated within the context of ordinary negligence claims.”
Source Suprynowicz v. Tohan, (SC 20992.
If you or a loved one were harmed as a result of medical malpractice in Connecticut or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Connecticut medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
Click here to visit our website or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to find medical malpractice lawyers in your U.S. state who may assist you.
Turn to us when you don’t know where to turn.
