Abstract

PIP:

A Michigan couple sued a pharmacist (Troppi is Scarf) for dispensing tranquilizers instead of oral contraceptives to the wife, who became pregnant and was delivered of her healthy but unwanted eighth child. The trial court judge dismissed the case on the grounds that the State's policy considered a healthy child a benefit. Michigan court of Appeals reversed the decision, making the pharmacist liable for damages on 4 courts: the cost of rearing the child, the pain and anxiety of pregnancy and birth, medical and hospital expenses, and the woman's lost wages owing to the pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing. A jury will assess the amount of the damages. Discussion of the cost of rearing a child concerned the modern lack of economic value of the child's services or companionship versus the value of the joys of bringing up a child, and the defendants claimed that the child should have been aborted or adopted. The court decided that the defendant could not expect the mother to have the emotional and mental makeup to abort or have the child adopted. This case is one of the first such decisions in American courts.