Women Sues Doctors Over Botched Abortion

Watching or reading the news can be an adventure every day. Sometimes you get stories that tug at your heart; sometimes you get stories that make you crack up laughing; sometimes you get stories that just plain tick you off. A story I came across yesterday ticked me off.

A woman in Boston has filed a lawsuit against the Plannd Parenthood League of Massachusetts, alleging that the doctor who performed her abortion in April of 2004 botched the job. Furthermore, she claims that she was not aware that the abortion didn't take until a mere six weeks before she gave birth to her daughter in December of that year. Now, Jennifer Raper wants Planned Parenthood, the doctor who performed the abortion, and another doctor who allegedly failed to detect her pregnancy in July of 2004 to pay her damages, including the cost of raising her now two-year-old daughter.

In her three-page malpractice suit, Raper stated that she discovered she was pregnant in March 2004. She elected to have an abortion, due to financial difficulties. To get the procedure done, she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Boston, where on April 9, 2004, Dr. Allison Bryant performed the procedure. However, "it was not done properly, causing the plaintiff to remain pregnant," according to the complaint. Bryant's response was to tell Raper to see her primary care physician. On July 16, 2004 -- a good three and a half months after her botched procedure at the Planned Parenthood clinic -- Raper went to see Dr. Benjamin Eleonu at Boston Medical Center. He did a pelvic exam and said that her uterus was normal, despite the fact that by this point Raper is twenty weeks pregnant. It was not until she went to the New England Medical Center on September 26, 2004 -- a good two months after her exam at the Boston Medical Center --to be treated for pelvic pain that Raper found out she was still pregnant. She would later give birth to her daughter on December 7, 2004.

Just going over the bare facts of this case, anyone with common sense would find it extremely odd that this woman did not know she was still pregnant three months after her abortion procedure at the Planned Parenthood clinic. Though it is possible that she was not experiencing nausea or any type of vomiting, there is no possible way that she did not notice changes in her body. For the sake of argument, one could say that she was still menstruating. However, if that was the case, it would not have been like a normal period. Her flow would have been lighter, or even spotty. In short, her body would have told her in some way, shape, or form that she was still pregnant.

Another aspect that does not make sense is the fact that, if she believed her abortion was done incorrectly, why did she not seek a second, third, or fourth opinion, just to make sure? At the age of 45, one would think that she has enough intelligence to know that abortion procedures are very serious, and if any complications arise, they could do permanent damage to her body.

Now, she has filed a suit against two doctors and Planned Parenthood, claiming that all parties were negligent in not picking up on the fact that she was still pregnant. What about her own personal negligence in not realizing she was still pregnant herself? Women always claim to know their bodies extremely well, almost to the point of being able to predict exactly when something is going to happen to them physically. Why was Raper not that in tune with her own body to know she was carrying her daughter? Furthermore, why should these two doctors and Planned Parenthood be responsible for paying the cost of caring for her daughter, when they are not the parties that got her pregnant in the first place?

Interestingly enough, this is not the first case of a wrongful birth suit being filed in Massachusetts. Over twenty years ago, a woman filed a suit against her doctor for a failed tubal ligation procedure. Because it was not done correctly, she ended up giving birth to her eleventh child. She won her suit and was awarded a hefty settlement for damages. In 1997, Deborah Gaines filed suit against Preterm Health Services. She had gone there three years earlier to have an abortion, but was frightened off by violence at the clinic. As a result, she gave birth to her fourth child seven months after she had gone to the clinic. Her suit alleged that the clinic provided poor security for its patients, and was seeking damages because she now had a child that was learning-disabled and hyperactive. In short, she wanted the clinic to reimburse her for caring for her own child. The case was settled.

Although Raper's case, like all medical malpractice cases, has to be screened by a tribunal made up of a Superior Court judge, a doctor, and a lawyer in order to determine its merit, there is a high likelihood that the case will be heard. This is due to the fact that, in 1990, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that parents can sue physicians for child-rearing expenses. However, the same ruling limited the claims concerning cases where the child/children require extraordinary expenses due to medical problems. In other words, because this ruling is on the books, Raper may actually get compensated for giving to and taking care of a child she claims she didn't want. That seems a bit suspect, considering that if she truly believed she was not financially stable enough to care for a child, she could have put the child up for adoption.

It seems that Raper is just using this as an opportunity to scam the judicial system. If this was a serious problem for her, she would not have waited two years before bringing this wrongful birth suit. She would have filed it in the early weeks and months after her child was born. It may be that she just doesn't want to face the fact that the very negligence she is accusing her doctors and Planned Parenthood of is the same negligence that she herself is guilty of. Raper has a gift that some women, including myself, may never have: a child to carry on her legacy. What a shame that she doesn't truly appreciate how precious her child is.