Opinion ID: 1412151
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: current south carolina law

Text: In a negligence action against a physician or other health care provider in which medical malpractice is alleged, plaintiff generally must demonstrate a duty is owed because a physician-patient relationship existed, physician failed to exercise the degree of care and skill which ordinarily is employed by the profession under similar conditions and like circumstances, physician's failure proximately caused harm or injury to plaintiff, and plaintiff suffered damages as a result of the harm or injury. See, e.g. Pearson v. Bridges, 344 S.C. 366, 544 S.E.2d 617 (2001); Gooding v. St. Francis Xavier Hosp., 326 S.C. 248, 487 S.E.2d 596 (1997); Roberts v. Hunter, 310 S.C. 364, 426 S.E.2d 797 (1993); Bramlette v. Charter-Medical-Columbia, 302 S.C. 68, 393 S.E.2d 914 (1990); Fields v. Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg, 354 S.C. 445, 581 S.E.2d 489 (Ct.App.2003); Daves v. Cleary, 355 S.C. 216, 584 S.E.2d 423 (Ct.App.2003). Thus, the analysis in a medical malpractice action tracks the familiar duty-breach-causation-damages analysis employed in a typical tort action. It is well established in South Carolina that a viable fetus harmed in utero by the act or omission of another, including a physician or other health care provider, may seek damages from the negligent tortfeasor. See Rush v. Blanchard, 310 S.C. 375, 426 S.E.2d 802 (1993) (affirming jury verdict for parents and child in medical malpractice action brought against physician who negligently performed an amniocentesis and harmed infant while he was in the womb, and injured infant was later born alive); Crosby v. Glasscock Trucking Co., 340 S.C. 626, 532 S.E.2d 856 (2000) (nonviable fetus may not maintain wrongful death action where fetus was stillborn after a vehicle wreck); West v. McCoy, 233 S.C. 369, 105 S.E.2d 88 (1958) (same); Fowler v. Woodward, 244 S.C. 608, 138 S.E.2d 42 (1964) (unborn child, a viable fetus, is capable of suffering legal wrong and may maintain action for wrongful death where mother and fetus perished in vehicle wreck); Hall v. Murphy, 236 S.C. 257, 113 S.E.2d 790 (1960) (unborn child, a viable fetus, may maintain wrongful death action where vehicle wreck resulted in premature birth and infant died four hours later). This authority, however, provides minimal guidance in the present case. Wrongful life and wrongful birth actions differ from a typical medical malpractice action because the negligent act or omission of the health care provider did not actually cause the impairment or defective condition. Instead, the impairment or defective condition occurred and the health care provider failed to predict or diagnose it, resulting in the birth of a child with a congenital defect. See Walker v. Rinck, 604 N.E.2d 591, 594 (Ind.1992) (distinguishing cases in which the defendant's alleged negligence actually caused an abnormality in a fetus or infant who otherwise would have been born normal from cases alleging wrongful life or wrongful birth actions); Procanik by Procanik v. Cillo, 97 N.J. 339, 478 A.2d 755, 760 (1984) (same); Taylor v. Kurapati, 236 Mich.App. 315, 600 N.W.2d 670, 674-75 (1999) (same). [2] In Phillips v. U.S., 508 F.Supp. 537 (D.S.C.1980), the court predicted this Court would not adopt a wrongful life action. The district court rejected the notion, as expressed by other courts, that damages were too difficult to ascertain because of the Hobson's choice between non-existence and an existence with a defective condition. The court also rejected the notion that causation was a problem, noting plaintiff's argument was not that physician caused the defect, but his failure to predict or diagnose it deprived his parents of the opportunity to decide whether to terminate the pregnancy. The Phillips court considered but largely discounted other reasons for rejecting the action, such as an increase in litigation, the perceived difficulty in proving it, that such a decision is better left to the legislature, and that the unfathomable theological or philosophical nature of the issue remove it from the realm of justiciability. Instead, the Phillips court rejected a wrongful life action primarily because recognizing it would violate the fundamental public policy of preserving the sanctity and preciousness of human life. Phillips, 508 F.Supp. at 542-44.