Court Opinion

ID: 9752054
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 17:32:16.750959+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:05.845448
License: Public Domain

NIX, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I join in the opinion authored by Mr. Justice Montemuro. I write separately, however, to reconcile my views in the dissenting opinion in Amadio v. Levin, 509 Pa. 199, 230, 501 A.2d 1085, 1101 (1985), with the instant facts.
In Amadio, I wrote that the mother’s personal injury action would adequately compensate for any injuries sustained by the stillborn fetus. In the instant case, however, these children lived outside of the womb for at least twenty minutes, and one child survived for ten hours. In that time, these children suffered and ultimately died completely independent of the mother. As a result, any action on behalf of the mother to compensate her for her injuries would not encompass the damages that these children suffered after their birth. Therefore, only a wrongful death and survival action maintained on behalf of these children will adequately compensate them for their injuries. Accordingly, I join.