U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik awarded $10 million as a settlement to the family of a severely disabled child who was born after a nurse at the Neighbourcare Health Clinic in Seattle gave a flu shot instead of a birth-control injection.
According to the lawsuit filed, the woman visited the clinic for a quarterly injection of Depo-Provera, a hormone used for birth control. The nurse at the clinic, which is federally funded and serves low-income and uninsured patients, failed to check the patient's chart and gave her a flu vaccine instead.
The woman was already pregnant when she became aware of the clinical slip-up, which she realized more than two months later when she called to fix her next appointment.
The lawsuit was brought up as a "wrongful pregnancy" and "wrongful life" in the court by the lawyers representing the family. The federal government was held liable for the damages and was heavily criticized for not accepting accountability.
The child suffers from a birth defect known as bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (PMG), which resulted in cognitive delays, slowed speech and language skills, epilepsy, vision problems, and other complications. The family's lawyers said that the child will live a normal life span but would need care and assistance for the entire life.
The child was awarded $7.5 million for her medical, educational, and other expenses, and her parents received $2.5 million in damages. Lawyers of the Justice Department are appealing to form a "reversionary trust" that would require the family to return the money that is not needed by the child.
