A British court has granted a 20-year-old woman a right to a huge payout after she sued her mother’s doctor for “wrongful conception”.
Evie Toombes, a star showjumper, had sued her mother’s doctor claiming that she should never have been born.
The 20-year-old took Dr. Philip Mitchell to court over his failure to properly advise her mother while she was pregnant. Evie Toombes claimed that if Dr. Mitchell had told her mother she needed to take folic acid supplements to minimize the risk of spina bifida affecting her baby, she would have put off getting pregnant. This, in turn, would have meant that Evie would never have been born.
Judge Rosalind Coe QC backed Evie’s case in London High Court and ruled that had her mother been “provided with the correct recommended advice, she would have delayed attempts to conceive.”
“In the circumstances, there would have been a later conception, which would have resulted in a normal healthy child,” she said, awarding Evie Toombes the right to a huge payout.
Evie’s lawyers have said that the exact sum has not been calculated, but would likely be a big number as it would need to cover the cost of her lifelong care needs.
Evie Toombes’ mother had earlier told the court that had Dr. Mitchell advised her correctly, she would have put off her plans of getting pregnant. “I was advised that if I had a good diet previously, I would not have to take folic acid,” she told the judge.
