If Only We'd Known, Parents Say

The Yorba Linda parents are suing their obstetrician, Dr. William Dieterich, for unspecified damages because they say he failed to tell them about a state-mandated screening to test for diseases such as spina bifida -- which has left Leilani paralyzed from the knees down.

The couple say they were denied the opportunity to decide whether to abort the pregnancy, something they would have weighed had they known the child would be born with a disabling defect that can result in paralysis, profound learning disabilities and fluid on the brain.

"The whole rationale of the statute is to provide pregnant women with the information so they can make an informed decision about whether or not they want to keep the baby," said Larry Eisenberg, the lawyer for Dan Fraker and Colleen Duff. "In this case, the parents would have had to think long and hard about it, but my understanding is they would have opted for an abortion."

The couple declined to be interviewed, and Dieterich, 54, of Yorba Linda, did not return phone calls to his home and office.

So-called "wrongful birth" and "wrongful life" lawsuits have become increasingly common, experts say, because of advances in genetic testing and climbing healthcare costs that have increased the financial consequences of disabilities.

But as the numbers mount, some experts say the ethical issues that should accompany the debate are lost. Such lawsuits create the expectation that every child has a right to be born perfect and that anything less is cause for legal action, said the legislative counsel for the Ohio Right to Life Society.

"You have a situation where the only way to avoid injury to a child is to abort him or her," said attorney Mark Lally. "It comes down to saying her life isn't worth living. That's not someplace we want to go with our laws."

For Leilani's parents, though, the lawsuit is not about resentment of an imperfect child or the doctor who delivered her, they say. California law required Dieterich to tell them about the alpha fetoprotein blood test that probably would have detected spina bifida in their unborn daughter, and they say his negligence has saddled them with costs they would not have chosen to pay.