COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sep. 7, 00 (CWNews.com)

    The Ohio Supreme Court this week ruled in two lawsuits against parents who wanted to sue their doctors for "wrongful birth" after their children were born with disabilities.

    In the first case, the Hester family sued their doctor who failed to tell them that the unborn child had spina bifida before she was born, and sought compensation for medical and education expenses because they had not been able to abort the girl. In the second, the baby was conceived by Theresa Simmerer after a failed sterilization and was later diagnosed with a heart ailment. The boy died 15 months after he was born. The court ruled 4-3 against the lawsuits.

    In rejecting the Hester suit, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer said judges and jurors cannot judge the value of life, with or without disabilities. "We therefore reject the Hesters' suggestion that Alicia suffered damage based on the fact of her being born rather than aborted," he said.

    The court said Simmerer and her husband James should not be reimbursed for the child's medical expenses since the failed sterilization didn't cause the defect.

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