Gregory v. Pembrokeshire Health Authority [31 January 1989
Annual Review of Population Law 16: 36
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0364-3417 PMID: 12344394 Document Number: 383379
In the UK, the plaintiffs, husband and wife, sought damages from the defendant after the wife gave birth to a child suffering from Down's Syndrome. They claimed that the defendant was negligent in not informing the wife that a 1st amniocentesis had failed to produce results and, thus, not giving the wife the opportunity to have a 2nd amniocentesis, which would have indicated the presence of Down's Syndrome and allowed her to obtain an abortion. The court dismissed the suit. Although it found that the defendant had been negligent in not informing the wife of the test results, it concluded that even if it had informed her of the results, she would not have had a 2nd test performed. It based this conclusion on the testimony of her physician, who stated that he would have strongly advised her on medical grounds not to have another test, and on his belief that, as a reasonable woman, she would have followed his advice. The court accepted the contention of the physician that his advice would have been sound since the risk of harm from amniocentesis was greater than the risk of having a child suffering from Down's Syndrome, and there was serious doubt that at her stage of pregnancy an abortion could legally be performed.