{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]],"date-time":"2025-09-24T21:40:03Z","timestamp":1758750003248,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":5,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"6","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Med Ethics"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1998,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>A \"wrongful life\" suit is based on the purported tortious liability of a genetic counsellor towards an infant with hereditary defects, with the latter asserting that he or she would not have been born at all if not for the counsellor's negligence. This negligence allegedly lies in the failure on the part of the defendant adequately to advice the parents or to conduct properly the relevant testing and thereby prevent the child's conception or birth (where unimpaired life was not possible). This paper will offer support for the thesis that it would be both feasible and desirable to endorse \"wrongful life\" compensation actions. The genetic counsellor owed a duty of due professional care to the impaired newborn who now claims that but for the counsellor's negligence, he or she would not have been born at all. The plaintiff's defective life (where healthy life was never an option) constitutes a compensable injury. A sufficient causal link may exist between the plaintiff's injury and the defendant's breach of duty of due professional care and an appropriate measure of damages can be allocated to the disabled newborn. Sanctioning a \"wrongful life\" cause of action does not necessarily entail abandoning valuable constraints with regard to abortion and euthanasia. Nor does it inevitably lead to an uncontrolled slide down a \"slippery slope\".<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/jme.24.6.369","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2008,11,5]],"date-time":"2008-11-05T19:48:04Z","timestamp":1225914484000},"page":"369-375","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["'Wrongful life' lawsuits for faulty genetic counselling: should the impaired newborn be entitled to sue?"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"A","family":"Shapira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1998,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"97","article-title":"For an expanded version of this essay see: Shapira A. The human right not to be born impaired: issues of logic, value and policy","volume":"13","author":"Immenga, U.","year":"1996","unstructured":"For an expanded version of this essay see: Shapira A. The human right not to be born impaired: issues of logic, value and policy. In: Immenga U et al, eds. Festschrift fur Ernst-Joachim Mestmacker. Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos, 1996: 293; and Shapira A. \"Wrongful life\" lawsuits for faulty genetic counselling: the impaired newborn as plaintiff. Tel Aviv University Studies in Law 1997;13:97-114.","journal-title":"Tel Aviv University Studies in Law; 293; and Shapira A. \"Wrongful life\" lawsuits for faulty genetic counselling: the impaired newborn as plaintiff"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"1541","article-title":"For a discussion supporting the view that the fundamental problems in dealing with the \"wrongful life\" concept relate to the physician's alleged duty to the fetus and the notion of life as a harm, see Botkin JR. The legal concept of wrongful life","volume":"259","year":"1988","unstructured":"For a discussion supporting the view that the fundamental problems in dealing with the \"wrongful life\" concept relate to the physician's alleged duty to the fetus and the notion of life as a harm, see Botkin JR. The legal concept of wrongful life. Journal of the American Medical Association 1988;259: 1541.","journal-title":"Journal of the American Medical Association"},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"15","article-title":"For a position favouring parental responsibility to avoid a \"wrongful life\"","volume":"24","author":"Steinbock, B.; McClamrock, R.","year":"1994","unstructured":"For a position favouring parental responsibility to avoid a \"wrongful life\", see Steinbock B, McClamrock R. When is birth unfair to the child? Hastings Center Report 1994;24: 15.","journal-title":"Hastings Center Report; When is birth unfair to the child"},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"89","article-title":"For a skeptical view as to parental obligations in this regard, see Dworkin RB. The new genetics","volume":"1","author":"Childress, J.F.","year":"1986","unstructured":"For a skeptical view as to parental obligations in this regard, see Dworkin RB.The new genetics. In: Childress JF et al, eds. Bio law (resource manual) 1986;1:89, 100-1."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"There was a mistake in this paper by Dr Osamu Muramoto, which was published in the August issue of the journal. Dr Muramoto has written to the journal apologising for his mistake and asking that an erratum note be published.","article-title":"There was a mistake in this paper by Dr Osamu Muramoto, which was published in the August issue of the journal. Dr Muramoto has written to the journal apologising for his mistake and asking that an erratum note be published"}],"container-title":["Journal of Medical Ethics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/jme.24.6.369","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]],"date-time":"2025-09-24T21:17:22Z","timestamp":1758748642000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/jme.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/jme.24.6.369"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1998,12]]},"references-count":5,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1998,12,1]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1998,12]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/jme.24.6.369"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/jme.24.6.369","relation":{},"ISSN":["0306-6800","1473-4257"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0306-6800"},{"type":"electronic","value":"1473-4257"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1998,12]]}}}