Mother seeks compensation for failed termination

A mother is hoping to win £250,000 in compensation after her twin daughter survived an abortion four years ago.

Stacy Dow, from Perth, was 16 when she found out she was pregnant with twins and decided to have an abortion. But when she returned to her doctor after 33 weeks she was told one of the babies had survived. Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust said there had been nothing to suggest a child had survived and plans to challenge the claim in court.

The surviving baby, Jayde, was born healthy, weighing 6lb 2oz, by elective caesarean section. Her mother is claiming the damages for the ‘financial burden’ of her upbringing. The health trust is defending the action, claiming that after the abortion the doctor ‘checked the cavity of the uterus and could feel no further products of conception’. As far as could be clinically determined the pregnancy had been terminated,’ it said. ‘There were no features to suggest a second gestation sac was left. There is a recognised incidence of failed suction termination, particularly at early gestation. It’s probable the procedure on 19 January 2001 reduced the twins pregnancy to a singleton pregnancy.’ The trust has also stated in response that Jayde was born healthy, and that the sum being sued for was ‘excessive’.

Damages claim for abortion twin BBC, 7 December 2005