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Sunday, March 11, 2012

Portland-area Couple Sues Legacy Health for $3 Million for 'Wrongful Birth' After Child Born with Down syndrome

On the June 2007 day their daughter was born, Ariel and Deborah Levy were overcome with excitement, then shock when hospital staff told them their daughter looked like she had Down syndrome.

A doctor asked Deborah Levy if she'd had a prenatal test -- a chorionic villus sampling, or CVS for short -- and Levy said yes, the results showed they'd have a normal, healthy child.

Within days of her birth, however, a blood test confirmed that the little girl, Kalanit, had Down syndrome.

The Levys filed suit against Legacy Health, claiming that Deborah Levy would have aborted her pregnancy had she known her daughter had the chromosomal abnormality. The lawsuit blames Legacy's Center for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in North Portland and a Legacy lab for allegedly botching the test. The Levys -- who dearly love their daughter, now 4 -- want Legacy to pay for the extra life-time costs of caring for her. That is estimated at about $3 million.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am really not sure how I feel about this situation. I understand the disbelief of the parents after having a "normal" test result. But should the company really have to pay for a life time of health for this little girl? It's a shame they would have aborted if they had known the little girl would have had down syndrome.