Court Opinion

ID: 9715058
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:53:28.714515+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:31.121777
License: Public Domain

O’Connor, J.
(dissenting in part, with whom Nolan and Lynch, JJ., join). I agree with the court’s answers to the certified questions concerning the child’s claims. I also agree with the court’s answers to questions 4 (e) and 4 (f), that is, that the parents are not entitled to recover for the loss of the child’s society, companionship, and services “as a normal child.” Ante at 783. I do not agree, however, that Massachusetts should recognize a right of parents to recover damages for the consequences to them of the birth of a child with genetic defects.
In Burke v. Rivo, ante 764, 774 (1990), I expressed my view, which the court appears to share, that an award of the costs of raising a normal child without setting off the value of the child to the parents would be intolerably unfair to de*786fendants. At the same time, I said that it would also be intolerable for a judge or jury to engage in an inquiry concerning the set-off. The result I reached was that, even though the financial burden of raising a normal child may in some sitúatians be substantial, those costs, as a matter of public policy, should not be recoverable. My position in Burke was that an assumption that a judge or jury can measure the net loss to parents of the birth of a normal child is so inconsistent with the reverence we should have for human life that the harm to society from such an inquiry, augmented by the harm to the family and child, outweighs the value of compensating parents for the wrong they allege. My position in this case is the same. Although I recognize that the burden of raising an impaired child may be considerably heavier than the burden associated with raising a normal child, the controlling values and principles are the same. Therefore, I would answer certifled questions 3, 4 (b), and 4 (d), “No.”