I'm not mad that they sued. They paid for something, and didn't get what they paid for.
I was uncomfortable reading the rest of the lawsuit as it went on, because the rest of it struck me as "You're suing because the other people in your lives are essentially assholes." If the lawsuit had stopped at "Breach of contract, failure to uphold contract" whatever...but then to go on and on about how your white neighborhood is hard, your white family won't accept the child, your white XY and Z makes raising this child hard...look, I don't doubt that raising a child of another race is incredibly hard, but the way this was all phrased just doesn't sit right with me. It seems like they're asking for money not just because of the clinic's mistake (which I think is completely valid) but because the people in their lives are shitheads - which is not.
Well this is a negligence case too and you have to prove damages in a negligence case.
Even if race wasn't an issue in this case, I think this is sue-worthy. How do you fuck that up? Label the vials correctly, store them correctly, match them up to the person correctly. Done.
Sorry but she lives 45 miles from Cleveland and about the same from Youngstown, and is basically Akron/Canton. Neither of which are bastions of intolerance. Uniontown might be a little pocket of racist bastardy but nope, I don't think they need to worry so much about racism and non-acceptance of a mixed-race child.
What I think is the problem is that Ohio is a bastion of intolerance where HOMOSEXUALITY is not condoned and she/they grew up with this intolerance. And maybe Uniontown is a pocket of white supremacy in an area where there are plenty of places to live and plenty of places to hang out that would accept them and their daughter. They just need to step out of their white-picket-fence-white-neighbors and meet other people who aren't such bigots. There are a LOT of them in the area. They just haven't bothered to meet them.
I totally agree that they should sue for the incorrect vials. And I understand that the "easiest" case to make is wrongful birth and the reasoning is that the child is black/mixed. But it doesn't bode well for the child that there is litigation out there saying she's "less than" because she is mixed and not purely Aryan white. She will find out eventually.
Really they should just move to Columbus. It's a happy little rainbow enclave* thanks to academia and fashion. Unless they're Michigan fans, in which case they should probably just leave the state.
*hyperbole. I'm aware Columbus is not without its issues. But there is a thriving gay community, and it's relatively racially diverse for a Midwestern city.
It really is interesting how Columbus is such a representative city and I agree, OSU has probably helped.
Post by tacosforlife on Oct 1, 2014 11:22:44 GMT -5
I'm just liking all the Law & Order-related statuses.
There was an SVU episode where the wrong embryo was transferred* to a woman. It's the one where Lea Thompson and Abigail Breslin guest star. LT's daughter dies, and then she kidnaps AB because she thinks AB is her daughter. And then it comes out that AB was born to the parents who have raised her, but the embryo was actually one of LT's, making LT the biological mother. And the fertility doctor falsified the consent forms to make it look like LT consented to have her unused embryos donated, but they catch the doctor because he used a gel ink pen and those weren't invented until after the consent form was originally signed.
So no racial element but definitely a screw-up by the fertility clinic episode. Add to that the original L&O episode reference, and I feel like we have the basics covered.
*During the episode, they repeatedly refer to the doctor "implanting" embryos in women. I always want to scream, "TRANSFERRED! TRANSFERRED! EMBRYOS IMPLANT ON THEIR OWN!" File under: things I would not have known without this board.
I can't believe no one references it again, but y'all know what they needed, don't you...
NT testing.
I guess we found that one (ridiculously rare) scenario where someone would abort their black baby because the baby is black. That elected official is totally going to feel vindicated.
I'm just liking all the Law & Order-related statuses.
There was an SVU episode where the wrong embryo was transferred* to a woman. It's the one where Lea Thompson and Abigail Breslin guest star. LT's daughter dies, and then she kidnaps AB because she thinks AB is her daughter. And then it comes out that AB was born to the parents who have raised her, but the embryo was actually one of LT's, making LT the biological mother. And the fertility doctor falsified the consent forms to make it look like LT consented to have her unused embryos donated, but they catch the doctor because he used a gel ink pen and those weren't invented until after the consent form was originally signed.
So no racial element but definitely a screw-up by the fertility clinic episode. Add to that the original L&O episode reference, and I feel like we have the basics covered.
*During the episode, they repeatedly refer to the doctor "implanting" embryos in women. I always want to scream, "TRANSFERRED! TRANSFERRED! EMBRYOS IMPLANT ON THEIR OWN!" File under: things I would not have known without this board.
Then there was the Mothership L&O episode where a Lenny Briscoe figured out that the dark-skinned Hispanic couple's baby wasn't biologically theirs because the baby was pale with blue eyes, although the wife carried the baby as a surrogate for another couple. DUN DUN.
Post by tacosforlife on Oct 1, 2014 11:28:02 GMT -5
This whole thing is squicky.
As others have mentioned, you have to show damages in order to be able to sue.
But I think it would be hard to state any damages that don't sound racist.
But if nobody sues because you don't want to appear racist, a fertility clinic or sperm bank could just ignore any and all protocols and do whatever the hell it wants with no consequences.
I'm just liking all the Law & Order-related statuses.
There was an SVU episode where the wrong embryo was transferred* to a woman. It's the one where Lea Thompson and Abigail Breslin guest star. LT's daughter dies, and then she kidnaps AB because she thinks AB is her daughter. And then it comes out that AB was born to the parents who have raised her, but the embryo was actually one of LT's, making LT the biological mother. And the fertility doctor falsified the consent forms to make it look like LT consented to have her unused embryos donated, but they catch the doctor because he used a gel ink pen and those weren't invented until after the consent form was originally signed.
So no racial element but definitely a screw-up by the fertility clinic episode. Add to that the original L&O episode reference, and I feel like we have the basics covered.
*During the episode, they repeatedly refer to the doctor "implanting" embryos in women. I always want to scream, "TRANSFERRED! TRANSFERRED! EMBRYOS IMPLANT ON THEIR OWN!" File under: things I would not have known without this board.
Then there was the Mothership L&O episode where a Lenny Briscoe figured out that the dark-skinned Hispanic couple's baby wasn't biologically theirs because the baby was pale with blue eyes, although the wife carried the baby as a surrogate for another couple. DUN DUN.
I'm gonna need a season and episode number because I know all the Lennie Briscoe episodes but this one is not ringing a bell.
Also: dumb. My former boss was Hispanic with blond hair. I don't remember her eye color, though. We didn't spend a lot of time gazing into each other's eyes.
Then there was the Mothership L&O episode where a Lenny Briscoe figured out that the dark-skinned Hispanic couple's baby wasn't biologically theirs because the baby was pale with blue eyes, although the wife carried the baby as a surrogate for another couple. DUN DUN.
I'm gonna need a season and episode number because I know all the Lennie Briscoe episodes but this one is not ringing a bell.
Also: dumb. My former boss was Hispanic with blond hair. I don't remember her eye color, though. We didn't spend a lot of time gazing into each other's eyes.
As others have mentioned, you have to show damages in order to be able to sue.
But I think it would be hard to state any damages that don't sound racist.
But if nobody sues because you don't want to appear racist, a fertility clinic or sperm bank could just ignore any and all protocols and do whatever the hell it wants with no consequences.
What a shitty situation.
I dunno. I just don't know that I would want to be ON RECORD as the people who sued because I got a black baby by accident and raising said baby is hard because my friends and families are racists. I just wouldn't want my name attached to that.
That said, I can understand wanting the sperm bank to fix its shit and stop fucking up.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't either. And the whole thing definitely makes me uncomfortable.
But like you said, the sperm bank should fix its shit and stop fucking up.
Then there was the Mothership L&O episode where a Lenny Briscoe figured out that the dark-skinned Hispanic couple's baby wasn't biologically theirs because the baby was pale with blue eyes, although the wife carried the baby as a surrogate for another couple. DUN DUN.
I'm gonna need a season and episode number because I know all the Lennie Briscoe episodes but this one is not ringing a bell.
Also: dumb. My former boss was Hispanic with blond hair. I don't remember her eye color, though. We didn't spend a lot of time gazing into each other's eyes.
Well, Hispanic people can be of any race. There are quite a few blonds, people of Asian descent, etc. in Latin America.
It was more that Lennie saw that these particular parents were not pale and blue-eyed. I don't want to believe that Lennie Briscoe was a racist!!!
I'm gonna need a season and episode number because I know all the Lennie Briscoe episodes but this one is not ringing a bell.
Also: dumb. My former boss was Hispanic with blond hair. I don't remember her eye color, though. We didn't spend a lot of time gazing into each other's eyes.
Post by downtoearth on Oct 1, 2014 11:54:20 GMT -5
Hmmm... lots interesting posts. The shock of finding out that your pregnant with a biracial baby would be tough at first if you weren't expecting it, but I would imagine it would get easier to live with by the time the baby is there. However, I can't get behind having major "damages" here. Some damages, yeah, but not major, but I know lawyers language is often filled with extremes to try and get damages and prove negligence, right?
If you live in a place where you think raising a biracial kid is going to be tough, then maybe you should think about how your community needs to change and what you can do to make it better. I guess it was a reality check for the parents that the majority of the US is not very hospitable to minorities.
Post by iammalcolmx on Oct 1, 2014 11:58:22 GMT -5
They moved from the diverse place because the schools are better. I guess they can use the money they get to move back to their diverse area and send the kid to private school.
In wrongful birth cases it's always better to read the actual pleading. Not the news article spinning it.
It states there is a steep learning curve, living with anxieties and uncertainties - welcome to the life of the average black mother of a black son. (22,23 in pdf)
Still garbage.
Whereas there is no learning curve, living with anxieties or uncertainty when raising a child as a same sex couple.
This totally was an Law & Order episode!!! Dad was passing and killed his wife because she wouldn't give their black baby up for adoption and thought he would have gotten fired from his job if people knew he wasn't white.
Noooooooooooooooooooo! How could you get it so wrong, my L&O partner in crime!
His exwife killed the new pregnant wife, remember? The divorce from the exwife was spurred when she found out he was passing and then he had to triple her child support and alimony to get her to take custody of her own child. She did not want him because he was black but the husband couldn't raise the kid because of his work schedule.
Later when he remarried and his new wife caught a case of the babies, that ratchet bitch killed the woman because she didn't want people to know she had babies with a black man.
I am curious to know what they really want compensation for. Because you know, we talk about wrongful birth suits and how parents who do this want their special needs child to be cared for and they don't have the means to do so.
But the moving costs business? As a biracial woman myself I can tell you that changing neighborhoods is not some magic fix. There has never been a place I've lived where I've not been subject to some measure of ridicule for my race.
So I wonder if their motivation is shutting down the clinic or swaying them to change their practices. If this is the language they need to use to make that happen, it's still squicky but I kind of get it. However, idk. I'm not sure that is their motivation.
This is where I am. What are the extra costs related to the 'wrongful birth' here when the baby is perfectly healthy but just a different race from the baby they were expecting? I am not buying it.
If they're asking for punitive damages to shut down an irresponsible clinic, okay. Otherwise...just because something happened to you that shouldn't have happened doesn't make you entitled to compensation.
So let me get this straight...your family are racists but not homophobes? Yeah right! You just don't want a black child. Put the child up for adoption then get a white one.
Family members who are racist and homophobic, not a problem, keep the idiots away from the child. Find it hard to do her hair, learn how to do it. Know little about African Americans, read some books and try talking to black people...they won't bite. You have a precious healthy child, just love her, keep her safe and enjoy motherhood. Someone like herself should know what it feels like to be discriminated against. Accept and love the child.
Yeah, I understand being compensated because it's a deterrent against the company making mistakes in the future, but I resent that they want money for moving expenses.
You decided living in what you consider to be a racially closed-mined community was a-okay with you. It would have been perfectly fine with you to have raised a white child around racist people? What if their child had been born with DS or a physical disability? You really think your racist neighbors would have treated your child just fine as long as they were different in any way except race? I doubt it. Racial diversity is only a virtue for them when they are directly affected by it, I guess. Like PP said, how dare this company force this couple to deal with their privilege. This is "you're not wrong, you're just an assole" territory for me.
It's interesting to me that they went to buy more sperm for baby #2 when baby #1 hadn't even been born yet. I'm guessing they had their reasons but I would think you'd wanna make sure baby #1 actually came out healthy and all. I knew a SS couple whose first donor ended giving the baby some sort of muscle deficiency so rare it wouldn't have been tested for in his DNA. Stuff like that, or even birthing issues or infant issues would make me second guess using that donor again or having a #2 at all.
I am curious to know what they really want compensation for. Because you know, we talk about wrongful birth suits and how parents who do this want their special needs child to be cared for and they don't have the means to do so.
But the moving costs business? As a biracial woman myself I can tell you that changing neighborhoods is not some magic fix. There has never been a place I've lived where I've not been subject to some measure of ridicule for my race.
So I wonder if their motivation is shutting down the clinic or swaying them to change their practices. If this is the language they need to use to make that happen, it's still squicky but I kind of get it. However, idk. I'm not sure that is their motivation.
This is where I am. What are the extra costs related to the 'wrongful birth' here when the baby is perfectly healthy but just a different race from the baby they were expecting? I am not buying it.
If they're asking for punitive damages to shut down an irresponsible clinic, okay. Otherwise...just because something happened to you that shouldn't have happened doesn't make you entitled to compensation.
Its pretty rare (impossible?) to get punitive damages without compensatory damages.
Yeah I didn't read all of it, but how do you provide evidence of future economic loss in this case?
Show that the racially diverse neighborhoods with good schools are more expensive than non-racially diverse neighborhoods with good schools, or diverse neighborhoods with no good schools?