Ohio justices rule parents can sue for fetal test error
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Parents can sue a doctor if a genetic screening misses a severe or fatal condition that would have caused them to seek an abortion, a divided state Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The 4-3 decision limited such lawsuits to costs associated with a pregnancy and birth, saying such parents could not sue for pain-and-suffering damages or repayment of the costs of raising a disabled child.

The decision was a partial victory for a Kentucky couple who sued a Cincinnati obstetrics practice and hospital that provided genetic counseling and told them their fetus did not have a genetic disorder that the mother carried. But the 8-year-old boy has the disorder and can’t speak or crawl.

The finding overruled a lower-court decision that Richard and Helen Schirmer could sue for the costs of raising their disabled son.The rest