A Minnesota jury awarded $1.1 million in damages to a couple for the “wrongful conception” of their healthy child after the husband was incorrectly told that his vasectomy had been successful.
Steven Szlachtowski had a vasectomy performed at Minnesota Urology in Edina in December 2018. The following May, Szlachtowski went for standard post-vasectomy testing where a nurse told him it was safe to discontinue using contraceptives. Unexpectedly, Szlachtowski’s wife Megan Szlachtowski learned in March 2023 that she was 15 weeks pregnant.
In their filing, the Szlachtowskis alleged that the nurse who advised Steven had been habitually late or absent from work, sometimes showed up smelling of alcohol, and had been known to make errors. That nurse, however, died in 2022, prior to Megan Szlachtowski’s pregnancy.
The couple brought a medical malpractice lawsuit for emotional distress and the costs of raising the child, who was born healthy. They initially sought $6 million in punitive damages, in addition to compensatory damages involved with the pregnancy and raising a child they had not expected.
After trial, an eight-member Hennepin County jury comprised of five women and three men returned a verdict of $1.1 million in damages for the Szlachtowskis Tuesday.
Minnesota is one of a just a few states that allow medical malpractice claims for wrongful conception of a child later born healthy. The concept is a controversial one, as it raises intertwined questions of legality and morality.
A 1977 Minnesota Supreme Court case dealt directly with wrongful conception in Sherlock v. Stillwater Clinic; the court ruled that in such cases, courts must balance the joy of having a child against the cost required to raise one — and whose existence the parents tried to prevent.
Justice Walter Rogosheske acknowledged in Sherlock that it is “troublesome” to allow recovery of costs for raising a normal, healthy child, but said that parents’ direct financial injury in wrongful conception cases must be recognized. Moreover, Rogosheske noted at the time that the widespread use of birth control by millions of Americans “demonstrates an acceptance of the family-planning concept as an integral aspect of the modern marital relationship.”
The facts of the Szlachtowski case were not at issue, nor was the fact that the defendant had indeed committed malpractice. Rather, the jury was left to grapple with the difficult question of assessing compensatory damages. The presiding judge ruled prior to trial that punitive damages were not appropriate in the case.
Ultimately, the jury awarded $450,000 for Megan Szlachtowski’s past pain, discomfort and embarrassment; $150,000 for Steven Szlachtowski’s emotional distress; $15,000 for each of plaintiff’s loss of spousal services to the other; $62,773.59 for health care costs; $23,815.31 for Megan Szlachtowski’s loss of a bonus when she was on maternity leave; $35,320.24 for past child rearing expenses, and $386,156.76 for raising their son until the age of 18.
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