ABA Family Legal Guide

Personal Injury

Negligence

Medical Malpractice

I became pregnant even though my husband had a vasectomy. Can we recover damages?

Yes, you may be able to win such a case. A number of negligence cases have been permitted against physicians for performing unsuccessful vasectomies or other methods of sterilization that resulted in unwanted children. Courts increasingly allow a suit to be filed by the parents of a child born as a result of wrongful conception or wrongful pregnancy. Damages generally are limited to those associated with the pregnancy and birth and do not extend to support of the child.