Opinion ID: 1839071
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Summation on This Point

Text: We have explained these cases in detail to demonstrate the necessity to approach slowly any attempt to make an adoption agency liable for the health of the children that they place. This is particularly so when an adoption agency has done all that it could do before placing the child. Catholic Charities informed the Fosters of all the information it had. It conducted a painstakingly and thorough study. It was involved in no misrepresentation or fraud. The Fosters, however, do not even argue that Catholic Charities was involved in fraud or misrepresentation. They insist that Catholic Charities was simply negligent in not informing the doctors that Geoffrey had not been tested for PKU; therefore, it is liable. There, however, are several things which favor Catholic Charities. These include, inter alia, (1) the rarity of this disease; (2) the inability to detect the disease at any time before birth; (3) there were and are no doctors on Catholic Charities' staff; (4) Geoffrey remained in the hospital six days after his birth and no doctor, nurse or other medical professional thought to give a PKU test; (5) the Foster's own pediatrician did not give the test; and (6) no one informed Catholic Charities that a test had not been conducted. These points simply are reiterated to demonstrate that the duty to determine whether Geoffrey had PKU was left in the hands of the doctors (including Geoffrey's personal physician), and the medical staff at the University Hospital. Moreover, as a matter of law Catholic Charities reasonably could not have foreseen the injury or anticipate that the medical professionals would be negligent in performing their duties. Now, we briefly discuss the two remaining issues as denoted by Foster.