Parents sue fertility clinic because baby is the wrong color.
This article is kind of disturbing. I especially feel sorry for the kid.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17735987/wid/11915773?GT1=9145
NEW YORK - A couple can proceed with a lawsuit against a fertility clinic they filed after the wife gave birth to a daughter whose skin they thought was too dark to be their child, a judge has ruled. Thomas and Nancy Andrews, of Commack, N.Y., sued New York Medical Services for Reproductive Medicine, accusing the Manhattan clinic of medical malpractice and other offenses. They claim the Park Avenue clinic used another man’s sperm to inseminate Nancy Andrews’ eggs.
Three DNA tests — a home kit and two professional laboratory tests — confirmed that Thomas Andrews was not the baby’s biological father, state Supreme Court Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam quoted the couple as saying.
The couple says that they have been forced to raise a child who is “not even the same race, nationality, color ... as they are,” the judge said in the ruling.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, came to light Wednesday after the judge issued a decision that allows them to proceed with parts of the lawsuit while dismissing other parts.
The judge quoted the couple as saying that after their daughter, Jessica, was born Oct. 19, 2004, they knew something was wrong because of her physical appearance.
They say that “while we love Baby Jessica as our own, we are reminded of this terrible mistake each and every time we look at her; it is simply impossible to ignore,” the judge’s decision said.
The judge, in her ruling made public Wednesday, dismissed the claims against Dr. Martin Keltz, who had advised the procedure and had performed the embryo implantation.
She allowed the case to proceed against Dr. Reginald Puckett as owner of the clinic but threw out the case against him as an individual.
In trying to have the lawsuit against Puckett dismissed, his lawyer, Martin B. Adams, told the court that Puckett “did not examine, communicate with, care for or treat plaintiffs.”
The judge found Carlo Acosta, the non-physician embryologist who processed the egg and sperm for creation of an embryo, also could be held liable.
The couple’s lawyer, Howard J. Stern, did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.
posted by Bill Rowland @ March 22, 2007
36 Comments
36 Comments:
that just makes me angry, sad, (insert disappointment here).
this quote is just wrong "The couple says that they have been forced to raise a child who is “not even the same race, nationality, color ... as they are,” the judge said in the ruling."
they are lucky to even have a child. A lot of people can't have children and it sounds like they were almost one of those people. They should be thankful for what they got.
and now, I will say it was wrong of the clinic to do this without their permission.
and I had to read the lawyers name twice...LOL. glad there is a "J" in the middle and not a "K".
If I was older and had a stable job and a partner I was double-damn sure would help me raise the kid, I would trip all over myself getting there with adoption papers, already filled and just waiting for their signatures. I'm one of those people who is probably sterile, although I've never tested it. I would love a chance to have a baby of my own, although my choices are most likely limited to adoption or step-parenting.
It's still their kid. The clinic might have made a mistake, or they might have used viable sperm. Either way, their kid is still their kid to raise. This isn't a case of "whoops, I burned the cake - toss it out and start over with fresh ingredients." Why do they not want her just because she's the wrong color?
- ISU Tinkerer
This is tough. I'm with you. I feel for the kid. I admit I feel a little for the parents. You can't be mad at a parent anticipating a little one who maybe looks something like them.
But I'd like to hope in the same situation if my wife and I found out our child came out Asian or something that once we got over the shock we'd love the child and forget it. I don't know if I could sue, 'cause once the child got older he/she might take the law suit as a sign of the parents' distaste for him/her.
Parents that consider a child a mere product, the equivalent of off the shelf merchandise do not deserve the right to have children.
I am against this way of getting a child as a product ...
I have my opinion about both the doctor, this kind of hospitals, the judge and the parents ... But it's better I only shut up.
Its disgraceful - parenting properly and with love makes a parent not a moment of biology. Being a Dad is what I do - not a sex act 16 years ago...
poor kid...she could have done much better too. She should sue as well.
...BTW...Is that the same Howard Stern that murdered Anna Nicole Smith and her son?
How the fuck do you think Michael Jacksons parents must feel?
You start out with a little coon and fuck me 30 odd years (very odd years) later you end up with a white woman.
Fucking scarey
shambone *grabs crotch*
I'm with Kirsten in believing that it is not right for people to conceive this way. Mother Nature has a way of controlling the population, in addition there are plenty of abandoned kids that need homes (you know that, Hammer).
Could Howard be the father!?:)
Hitch, your a trip - that's funny!
Pink angel: I thought anyone born in the US was American Nationality.
What the hel are these ignorant parents talking about. I feel really sorry for that kid.
ISU: It sounds like that kid will never be loved. The parents may as well give it up for adoption.
James Burnett: I'm with you on this one. The parents probably paid 10grand for the treaments and should be compensated but it seems they are ultimately hurting the kid.
lexcen: it seems more and more that parents treat babies like window dressing instead of little people.
Kirsten: Two of my cousins did the fertility treatments and they worked out ok but this situation is really screwed up.
mutley: I've always said that a dad is much more than a sperm donor. Not enough share my opinion unfortunately.
JP: Yeah the kid is getting a screw deal and yeah I was wondering about that lawyer name too.
hitch: lol If it weren't for the millions, Jacksons parents would have disowned his crazy ass years ago. Good comparison!
nomas: I agree totally. And what is with all these people going to Korea, yugoslavia and china for babies when there are shitloads in their backyard?
When you see who they hired for a lawyer - they're out for huge money. Poor kid. In cases like this - perhaps the family should receive the money they invested in the fertilization procedure since evidently, an error was made but unless the mother and child also got AIDS or hepatitis, I think a huge settlement would be disgraceful
As far as I can figure it out, people go to other countries because the adoption process is a hell of a lot easier overseas, and there's almost zero chance of someone snatching the kid away from you. (A woman in one of my classes fostered and adopted 10 kids, and even when the parents didn't go to anything but the court hearing, she still needed their permission for everything down to the kids' haircuts for 2 years.) And babies are at a premium, not kids in their terrible twos or sulky tweens/adolescents who remember a parent who wasn't you.
The situation in foster care can also be heartbreaking when it comes to custody. Imagine what would have happened if, by some freak loss of common sense, someone made you surrender your daughters back to their mother because she had attended enough classes to become a "good" parent.
- ISU Tinkerer
I can understand why they want their money back, but they should think about what will happen if their kid finds out that they sued because her skin isn't the 'right' color. If they really wanted a child that looked like them, I'm sure that they could've easily found a child to adopt here in America or in Europe.
yeah, i heard about this, a couple of different issues not touched upon in these comments:
first, the mom, is gonna have to endure stares from friends and other people who raise eyebrows to the fact that both parents are vanilla, but the kid is mochachino... this will seem like the mom was sleeping around, you know?
second, the kid could have some psychological problems that are hereditary, most likely not, but that stuff runs in families, and while the parents know their own history, they do not know the mystery man's background. SO the daughter could have issues later in life as a result.
and yeah, making a stink over her being the wrong color DOES make them lame and unsavory. maybe that's why they were not meant to conceive in the first place?
remember when the black couple got a white baby and the white couple got a black baby in the manhattan fertility scandal? what is going on over there? then, there was that one doctor who was just squirting his own junk into all the mommies to be.
sheesh
Jeannie: that sounds fair. and the baby is still the moms DNA.
ISU: when I looked into all the forms of adoption, the foriegn ones were the most expensive, the most risky about the government holding the kids ransom over red tape and the medical histories were incomplete or unknown. The private adoptions in the US were easier but there was always a long wait for white babies. Luckily when I adopted the state had just passed a law that gave the parents one year to get their shit straight
then the judge severed rights permanently. Foster was always within the year and there was always a chance the kids could go back so that's why I couldn't go that route.
Brandon: My wife and I decided there are "DNA" people that are into family blood and all that. They want something from their seed. anything else is not ever really "theirs" Like when this poor kid grows up they will probably say things like "we don't know who the "real" father is.
infinitesimal: good points. luckily fertility clinics do ehausive family history, exams and such and usually won't proceed if there a chance of some kind of preventable heredity.
I agree, damnnnnnnn .. who thought that could happen.. well didn't the discuss this in the beginning?
I'm with JP on this one.... I wish when the child is old enough she sues her parents for not being her nationality, race etc.
Most times people that have recieved too much, deserve so little. This is one of those times.
Wow. This is the first i've heard of this, I can't believe this is happening here.
What the hell are people thinking? How in the world will they look their grown child in the eye when the time comes?
I'm just shaking my head.
HOW MANY LAWYERS ARE THERE NAMED HOWARD FUCKING STERN?!?!?!?!
And, good lord, how are they going to explain this to their daughter when she hears about this lawsuit?!
I'm with Malnurtured. I got to the last line and thought, "Hey, wait a minute: Howard J. Stern? Isn't that Anna Nicole's faux Baby Daddy? Is this whole thing a hoax?"
At the very least, it's an interesting ethics question.
Stuff happens, people make mistakes, get over it. We are one.
Welcome to America, land of lawsuits. Like that will solve anything.
Hopefully the child will just be thankful to be alive. Maybe it will grow up to help make the world a better place.
Well, have you guys seen a picture of the family yet? Obviously not, because if you had, you would see that the mother is not white, nor 'vanilla' as someone posted earlier. The mother is Dominican and the father is white. The mother is not white or even white looking. She herself has African features. She ought to be ashamed of herself for complaining about being forced to raise HER OWN FLESH AND BLOOD! Child Protective Services should be called immediately.
nabeel: its weird how much damage a lab tech with vials of sperm and poor orgaizational skills can cause.
Ryan: the kid is in for a rough life.
snay: Strange indeed about the lawyer.
jocelyn: I got it right off the msn page. They have been fooled before though.
bbc: thats exactly how I see it.
anon: my article didn't have a pic
if that is indeed the family this is even more screwed up
Remember that doctor interviewed who was the semen donor for like three hundred kids?
Now everyone is pissed because all the kids have the genetic predisposition to excessively masturbate.
Wow.....at first I could understand how they would be a bit 'shocked', but the baby was born to her and so just love her and get on with being a parent - it's what they WANTED so bad afterall!!!
Then, when I read about the picture, I agreed with another comment.....maybe that's why they couldn't have kids in the FIRST place...it was nature's way of saying, "you just won't make it as parents"!!
scott: I awlways thought the idea of whacking it in a doctors office into little cups a pretty unattractive proposition.
Kath: they have proven that they aren't suitable from just opening their mouths...Some people need to be sterile it seems.
That reminds me of a book I recently read: "Family Tree" by Barbara Delinsky. A white couple has a baby that's part black and there's a lot of running around trying to find out whose family is responsible for the genes.
I can't believe that people try everything to get a baby then they're upset because it doesn't look like them. I know genes are important to some people but if you're willing to adopt, you don't really have a lot of choice genes-wise. I just hope that baby Jessica isn't followed by a "real" brother or sister because she'll probably be rejected once the "real" child arrives. Some people don't deserve to have kids.
When I was little, I was the only one in the family with blond hair and blue eyes. Everyone else had dark hair and brown or blue eyes. Mama and Daddy used to joke that I was the milkman's baby. They thought it was funny when we'd all be out and there's blondie tagging along and the way folks would look at all of them, and get to me, look back at my parents like, "Where did you get this one from?" I never thought much of it. My hair darkened as an adult to light brown, but mama still laughs about the milkman's baby.
Poor kid, my parents loved me without question and sacrificed SO much for us kids. This kid will end up on a psychiatrist's couch.
What a disturbing story! That makes my heart hurt for the baby.
The mother's remark about constantly being reminded of the "mistake" each time they look at her almost made me want to puke. What a horrible thing to say. It may have not been her husbands sperm.. but it was her egg.. that is HER flesh and blood child she said that about.
Personally, even if it wasn't her egg which isn't the case.. but even if it wasn't, I don't see how any woman could carry a baby in their body and then not want it. I find the whole thing mind boggling and something that my emotional makeup cannot even fathom.
Janet: good point about the "real" brother or sister..talk about being a "red headed" step child...
Jam: lol at least they made a joke of it...I could imagine some kids catching hell for looking different.
groovy: If the parents are spouting this stuff to the press imagine how they talk in private.
Very difficult situation for the baby -- and the parents...
I would want my child to be mine biologically, UNLESS I chose to adopt.
Damn...
FORCED to raise this child? This couple needs tied up and horsewhipped...
That's all I got. I get too angry over this sort of thing.
Pathetic. Nothing like unconditional love for your child. They aren't fit to be parents.
Annie: I agree, however if I got something else I would love him or her no matter what.
gunz: horsewhipped, that's good maybe a little to kind for that brand of idiot.
OK...their attorney's name is Howard J. Stern...that right there tells me that there are "issues" with these people.
I would have been just a tad more selective in choing *MY* attorney.
That reminds me of my hometown - there was an oral surgeon practicing there and his name was "Dr. Butcher." Over the years, It never came as a surprise to me when I would pass his office and the lot would be EMTPY! :p
LOL.
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