Unwanted Child

If a healthy child born as a result of clinical negligence is a “blessing” which should not resound in child maintenance damages, can one create an exception for the birth of a disabled child? If so, should the law then permit a further exception for the disabled parent of a healthy child? And, even if the healthy child is not the proper subject-matter of damages, is this the same as saying that those who actively sought to avoid parenthood suffer no loss at all? Over the last six years, such questions have arisen in the English courts following the House of Lords ruling in McFarlane v Tayside Health Board1 in 1999 that parents of an unplanned but healthy child were no longer entitled to recover damages reflecting the costs of bits maintenance. That McFarlane did not straightforwardly apply to cases where either the child or the parent is disabled, not only led to the...