Court Opinion

ID: 9542943
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:40:35.042792+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:09:20.330472
License: Public Domain

MULLARKEY, Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I respectfully dissent from Part II.B of the majority opinion because I believe that Pierce Lininger (Pierce) stated a claim for relief which is sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss. In Destefano v. Grabrian, 763 P.2d 275 (Colo.1988), we rejected *1214the tort of clergy malpractice but allowed the plaintiffs to proceed with their claims for breach of fiduciary duty and outrageous conduct. So too in this case while we reject the tort of wrongful life, we should recognize that Pierce has stated claims for lack of informed consent and negligent misrepresentation.
“Wrongful life” is a label which is misleading and decidedly unhelpful. As one commentator noted, the term prevents analytical clarity. Capron, Tort Liability in Genetic Counseling, 79 Colum.L.Rev. 618, 647 (1979). The allegation which has come to characterize the tort of wrongful life (and which is present in the case now before us) is that, if the physicians had properly diagnosed and advised the plaintiffs with respect to a genetic condition, the parents would not have conceived or borne the child. This allegation poses the existence/nonexistence dilemma which so troubles the majority in its analysis of Pierce’s claim. In my view, that allegation is immaterial with respect to claims for lack of informed consent and negligent misrepresentation. This fact is demonstrated by the majority’s treatment of the parents’ claim in this case which summarily rejects the existence/nonexistence dilemma. See at 1206.
Since the claims of Pierce and his parents are so closely related and, indeed, mutually dependent, I see no reason to deny one while allowing the other to stand. The injury suffered by both the parents and Pierce occurred because the doctors failed to properly diagnose an hereditary condition in Pierce’s older brother. Because of this misdiagnosis, the physicians advised the parents that there was no increased risk that any subsequent children also would be born blind. The Liningers sought the genetic counseling not only for themselves but also for their future children. Neither they nor Pierce can claim any right that Pierce be born a perfect child. What both Pierce and his parents can and do claim is that, in reliance on the physicians’ advice, they intended to assume only the ordinary risks inherent in any decision to bear children. They did not intend to assume the very high risk of a one-in-four probability that Pierce would be born blind.
The essence of the complaint by Pierce and his parents is that the physicians, through their negligent misrepresentation, deprived the parents of the opportunity to make an informed decision on whether to bear another child. This was a decision made by the parents on their own behalf and on behalf of Pierce. The physicians took that decision away from the parents and, by their negligence, made that decision for the parents and for Pierce. That denial of an informed decision is the injury caused to Pierce by the physicians’ negligence. It is a basic and fundamental injury to the Lininger family, and both the parents and Pierce should be permitted to sue for negligence.
Allowing Pierce to maintain an action for negligence is consistent with traditional tort analysis. Claims based on informed consent have evolved as a variant of medical malpractice. Bloskas v. Murray, 646 P.2d 907, 914 (Colo.1982); see Stauffer v. Karabin, 30 Colo.App. 357, 492 P.2d 862 (1971). The law imposes upon a physician the duty of disclosing to the patient certain information essential to the patient’s informed consent to the performance of a medical or surgical procedure on the patient. Bloskas, 646 P.2d at 914. Where a risk is one which would be medically significant to a patient’s decision, and the risk is known or ought to be known by the physician, then it is a “substantial” risk and should be disclosed to the patient. Bloskas, 646 P.2d at 913; Mallett v. Pirkey, 171 Colo. 271, 284-85, 466 P.2d 466, 472-473 (1970). A physician may establish that his action or inaction complied with medical standards as a defense to this type of claim. Bloskas, 646 P.2d at 913, n. 6; Mallett, 171 Colo. at 282, 466 P.2d at 471.
Our decision in Bloskas also was grounded upon the tort of negligent misrepresentation, which we recognized as a claim for relief separate from and not subsumed within informed consent. 646 P.2d at 913-14. We adopted section 311 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965) which sets forth the elements of the claim:
*1215Negligent Misrepresentation Involving Risk of Physical Harm
(1) One who negligently gives false information to another is subject to liability for physical harm caused by action taken by the other in reasonable reliance upon such information, where such harm results (a) to the other, or (b) to such third persons as the actor should expect to be put in peril by the action taken.
(2) Such negligence may consist of a failure to exercise reasonable care (a) in ascertaining the accuracy of the information, or (b) in the manner in which it is communicated.
Bloskas, 646 P.2d at 914. We also noted Comment b to section 311 which states that these principles find particular application where “it is part of the actor’s business or profession to .give information upon which the safety of the recipient or a third person depends.” We concluded that there was “no reason not to extend [the doctrine of negligent misrepresentation] to representations made in the course of [a physician-patient] relationship.” Id.
The physician’s duty of care clearly extended to Pierce. It is well-established that a physician owes a duty of care to an infant who is born alive and the infant has an independent claim for relief based on breach of that duty. E.g., Hopkins v. McBane, 359 N.W.2d 862, 864 (N.D.1984) (“In accord with the nearly unanimous weight of authority, we hold that ... there exists a cause of action by a child who is born alive for damages for prenatal injuries caused by the tortious conduct of another.”); Restatement (Second) of Torts § 869(1) (1977); Note, Informed Consent: An Unborn’s Right, 48 Alb.L.Rev. 1102 (1984); cf. Espadero v. Feld, 649 F.Supp. 1480 (D.Colo.1986) (wrongful death action may be maintained under Colorado law for the death of a viable fetus); Callaham v. Slavsky, 153 Colo. 291, 385 P.2d 674 (1963) (affirming judgment awarding damages for the wrongful death of a child who suffered prenatal injuries in a car accident). See generally Annotation, Liability for Prenatal Injuries, 40 A.L.R.3d 1222 § 9 (1971 & Supp.1988). Depending on the facts, the physician’s duty may extend to a child not yet conceived at the time of the negligent act. Empire Casualty Co. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 764 P.2d 1191 (Colo.1988). See also Bergstreser v. Mitchell, 577 F.2d 22 (8th Cir.1978); Renslow v. Mennonite Hosp., 67 Ill.2d 348, 10 Ill.Dec. 484, 367 N.E.2d 1250 (1977). See generally Annotation, Liability for Child's Personal Injuries or Death Resulting from Tort Committed Against Child’s Mother Before Child was Conceived, 91 A.L.R.3d 316 (1979 & Supp.1988).
Negligent misrepresentation is particularly appropriate here because it is specifically applicable to those situations where a third party, such as a potential child, is foreseeably endangered. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 311 (1965). In a genetic counseling case similar to the one now before us, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that an infant stated a claim for negligent nondisclosure by physicians. Pratt v. University of Minn. Affiliated Hosp. & Clinics, 414 N.W.2d 399 (Minn.1987).
Finally, I note that it is anomalous to recognize the parents’ claim and deny the child’s claim. This will lead to hardship because any damages awarded would terminate when the child is emancipated and the failure of the parents to promptly pursue their claim would foreclose any relief being granted. This denial of the child’s claim only serves to immunize negligent physicians.
Pierce’s claims for lack of informed consent and negligent misrepresentation should be reinstated.
I am authorized to say that Justice LOHR joins in this concurrence and dissent.