Failed termination claim thrown out

A mother seeking compensation after giving birth following an abortion has lost her damages bid.

Stacy Dow claimed she had been told that both of her unborn twins would be terminated during an operation at Perth Royal Infirmary. She raised the legal action to force a health authority to pay £250,000 for the upbringing of her surviving twin. But on 11 September it was reported that her damages bid, launched at Perth Sheriff Court against NHS Tayside, has been rejected.

Miss Dow, from Perth, claimed the hospital ‘breached a warranty’ after her daughter Jayde, now a healthy five-year-old, was born. In his ruling on the case, Sheriff Michael Fletcher said patients being treated within the NHS could not normally be said to have a ‘contract’ with their doctor. He stated that simply because a doctor had used the word ‘termination’ during a conversation with Miss Dow, it did not guarantee success, adding: ‘In my opinion the action is irrelevant and should be dismissed.’

Abortion bid mother case rejected, BBC News, 11 September 2006

Also read:

Mother seeks compensation for failed termination, 9 December 2005

Court hears compensation claim for failed termination, 24 March 2006