Here’s a story about a child who might have to undergo some therapy one day:
A MOTHER who underwent an abortion after learning that she was pregnant with twins is suing the NHS for £250,000 after one of the babies survived.
Stacy Dow, who was 16 when she found out that she was pregnant, is seeking compensation and damages for the “financial burden� of raising her daughter. Miss Dow, whose father has had to take on a second job to help to pay for his granddaughter, is claiming for “loss, injury and damage� suffered at the hands of Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust.
The teenager, who hoped to train as a nurse, decided to have an abortion as soon as she discovered that she was six weeks pregnant. Days later the procedure was carried out at Perth Royal Infirmary, where doctors advised her that no live material was left in her uterus.
But then, the Times Online article notes, she started to put on weight and noticed other things. The hospital told had told her that there could be some side-effects. So then she visited the hospital:
Miss Dow said: “After 33 weeks I went to the GP and he told me I was pregnant. I thought he meant I had fallen pregnant again, and I couldn’t believe it when I was told that it was one of the original pregnancies.�
And the child? Her daughter Jade is now 3. She was 6lb 2oz was delivered by Caesarean section on August 30, 2001:
Miss Dow said of the abortion: “They told me in the hospital that the operation had been successful and there was nothing left in the womb…When I told my Dad what had happened he nearly crashed his van. I have got a child now that I wasn’t planning to have and I believe the hospital should take some responsibility for that. It has totally changed my life and my parents’ lives. I wasn’t ready for it.â€?
She added: “I still don’t know if, or what, I’m going to tell Jayde when the time comes. I just hope she understands what happened and why I did it.�
And that is, indeed, the lingering question.
In these days of super-quick information her daughter will easily find info on file about what happened. She’ll know that not only did her Mom seek to have her aborted but also sued the hospital because the abortion didn’t work. Not that parental love can’t conquer all — but the Mom will have some delicate explaining to do.
PS: She might also ponder what she plans to tell her child about personal responsibility.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.