NJ Supreme Court Issues Significant Ruling in Medical Malpractice Case Involving Termination of Pregnancy
September 12, 2007
In this case, the New Jersey Supreme Court was faced with the difficult question of determining whether a physician is required to inform a patient, who was in the 6th to 8th week of her pregnancy, that an abortion procedure will kill not just potential life, but an actual existing human being. In this case, the plaintiff filed a medical malpractice action claiming that her physician, an obstetrician-gynecologist, performed an abortion without her informed consent. Specifically, the plaintiff alleged in her Complaint that the doctor breached his duty to her by failing to inform her of "the scientific and medical fact [that her six-to-eight-week-old embryo] was a complete, separate, unique, and irreplaceable human being" and that an abortion would result in "killing an existing human being."
In finding in favor of the doctor,
In this case, the New Jersey Supreme Court was faced with the difficult question of determining whether a physician is required to inform a patient, who was in the 6th to 8th week of her pregnancy, that an abortion procedure will kill not just potential life, but an actual existing human being. In this case, the plaintiff filed a medical malpractice action claiming that her physician, an obstetrician-gynecologist, performed an abortion without her informed consent. Specifically, the plaintiff alleged in her Complaint that the doctor breached his duty to her by failing to inform her of "the scientific and medical fact [that her six-to-eight-week-old embryo] was a complete, separate, unique, and irreplaceable human being" and that an abortion would result in "killing an existing human being."
In finding in favor of the doctor,
the New Jersey Supreme Court concluded that there is no common law duty requiring a physician to inform a pregnant patient that an embryo is an existing, living human being and that an abortion results in the killing of a family member. Click here to read the full case opinion.
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