Opinion ID: 1355690
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: prenatal injury under south carolina case law

Text: We have addressed the issue of civil recovery for prenatal injury and death on three occasions: West v. McCoy, 233 S.C. 369, 105 S.E.2d 88 (1958); Hall v. Murphy, 236 S.C. 257, 113 S.E.2d 790 (1960); and Fowler v. Woodward, 244 S.C. 608, 138 S.E.2d 42 (1964). In West v. McCoy, supra , the defendant crashed his automobile into the rear of the plaintiffs car. The plaintiff was at the time about five months pregnant. As a result of the accident the plaintiff experienced cramps and vaginal bleeding. The plaintiffs doctor advised her to remain in bed. For about a month following the accident, the plaintiff continued to feel the fetal movements of her child. However, not long thereafter, the plaintiff suffered a miscarriage in which the fetus was born dead. The plaintiff brought a wrongful death action against the defendant. This Court recognized the prevailing common law view that a cause of action could be maintained where prenatal injuries resulted in disability or death after live birth, and where the infant was viable and capable of being delivered and remaining alive separate from its mother at the time of injury. In West, the Court noted that the fetus neither was viable at the time of the injury nor was it born alive. Thus, the plaintiff was precluded from suing for the wrongful death of her fetus. The Court expressly declined to decide whether it would follow the common law view that an action could be maintained by a child injured while en ventre sa mere [2] and born alive. In Hall v. Murphy, supra , this Court answered the question left open in West. We held for the first time that a cause of action for wrongful death could be maintained for prenatal injuries occurring to a viable [3] fetus in cases where the child was born alive and then died as a result of those injuries. We rejected the reasons previously advanced against recovery for prenatal injuries, e.g., the difficulty in determining a causal relationship between a prenatal injury and the death or the condition of the child, the possibility of fictitious claims, the belief that a child was not a person until born, and lack of precedent. We recognized that the inherent difficulty in proving a causal relationship between a prenatal injury and the damage which subsequently becomes apparent presents no insurmountable problem, at least in cases where the child is born alive. Further, questions about causation and reasonable certainty which will arise in these cases are no different from questions about causation arising in other negligence actions. This Court noted that a few courts had gone even further to hold that a cause of action could be maintained for injuries to a nonviable fetus later born alive. However, the Court in Hall declined to decide this issue since it was not before it. In our last decision, Fowler v. Woodward, supra , we abandoned the requirement of live birth and held that recovery could be had for the wrongful death of a stillborn, viable fetus. In Fowler, we commented on our wrongful death statute and its requirements as follows: An action for wrongful death will lie, under the terms of the statute, when the death of a person is caused by the act, neglect or default of another and the act is such as would, if death had not ensued, have entitled the party injured to maintain an action. Fowler, 244 S.C. at 612-13, 138 S.E.2d at 44. We concluded, we see no more reason why [the cause of action] should be cut off because of the child's death before birth, than if it died thereafter. Id. at 614, 138 S.E.2d at 45 (quoting State v. Sherman, 234 Md. 179, 198 A.2d 71, 73 (1964)). In 1964, when we first recognized a cause of action in Fowler for the wrongful death of a stillborn, viable fetus, South Carolina was among a minority of jurisdictions to do so. At the time, the prevailing view among other jurisdictions was that an unborn fetus, whether viable or not, was not a person as contemplated under the terms of the wrongful death statutes enacted by state legislatures. Rather, it was only upon birth that a person was said to begin existence as a complete, separate individual. In earlier decisions, like West, courts understood that a viable fetus could exist apart from the mother if delivered at any point during the viability stage. See West, 233 S.C. at 375, 105 S.E.2d at 91 (A fetus generally becomes a viable child between the sixth and seventh month of its existence.). Nevertheless, the majority of jurisdictions refused to recognize that a viable fetus was a person for purposes of the wrongful death statute. This Court in Fowler recognized the inconsistency of this rule which allowed recovery for prenatal injuries when the child was born alive, but not when the child was stillborn. In essence, a defendant was better off if the wrongful or negligent conduct was severe enough to cause the death of the fetus while still in the mother's womb. The Court rejected this illogical approach, stating: The cause of action arose at the time of the injury and we see no more reason why it should be cut off because of the child's death before birth, than if it died thereafter. The wrongful act would have entitled the party injured to maintain an action ... if death had not ensued, and under the plain words of the death statute we think the action survives, or permits the parents to recover, notwithstanding the death of the child. Fowler, 244 S.C. at 614, 138 S.E.2d at 45 (quoting State v. Sherman, 234 Md. 179, 198 A.2d 71, 72 (1964)). [4]