Saturday, May 30, 2009
Family Sues Sperm Bank for Bad Sperm
“Buyer beware” may become the new catchphrase for the sperm bank industry in the wake of a potentially landmark legal case now moving ahead in federal court. The lawsuit was brought by a 13-year-old Pennsylvania girl, Brittany Donovan, against the New York laboratory that sold Brittany’s mother, Donna Donovan, the sperm that led to her conceiving her daughter. That sperm, from an anonymous donor, turned out to contain a genetic defect that led to Brittany becoming mentally disabled.
Donna Donovan tried to sue Idant Laboratories, but U.S. District Judge Thomas N. O'Neill Jr. threw out the mother’s lawsuit on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired because genetic tests showed in 1998 that the sperm donor was the source of the “Fragile X” genetic defect in her daughter. But O’Neill decided that Brittany Donovan could pursue her own lawsuit because Pennsylvania law provides that any statute of limitation does not apply until two years after a minor reaches the age of 18. The ruling means Brittany Donovan’s case can proceed in New York federal court.
The case represents the first of its kind in which a sperm bank can be sued under product liability laws for failing to detect a defect that caused harm to a consumer. The Donovans are pursuing their fight in New York not only because that is where Idant Labs is located, but also because the state is one of the few in the country that does not exempt human tissues from liability cases. Most states have laws that exempt blood and tissue sales from so-called “lemon laws.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
13 Year Old Girl Born With Disabilities Allowed to Sue Sperm Bank (by Andrew Kessel, Singularity Hub)
Sperm Banks Can Be Sued Under Product Liability Laws, Federal Judge Rules (by Shannon P. Duffy, Legal Intelligencer)
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