B. Elements

• Library: Elements of Civil Causes of Action (SCBar) (2021 Ed.)

B. Elements

A claim for wrongful birth is not a new and distinct cause of action, but falls within the traditional boundaries of negligence.⁵ In order to recover in any negligence action, the plaintiff must show:

(1) a duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff
(2) a breach of that duty by a negligent act or omission
(3) damages proximately resulting from the breach.⁶

Sometimes the damages element is separated from proximate causation to create four elements.⁷

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Notes:

^[5] Phillips v. United States, 508 F. Supp. 544, 550 (D.S.C. 1981), citing Comment, Wrongful Birth Damages, 13 Val.U.L.Rev. 127 (1978). See also Plowman v. Fort Madison Cmty. Hosp., 896 N.W.2d 393, 396 (Iowa 2017) (deciding that parents may sue for wrongful birth of severely disabled child as theory fits within general tort principles for medical negligence actions).

^[6] Crolley v. Hutchins, 300 S.C. 355, 387 S.E.2d 716 (Ct. App. 1989); South Carolina Ins. Co. v. James C. Greene & Co., 290 S.C. 171, 348 S.E.2d 617 (Ct. App. 1986). See also T. Rogers, Wrongful Life and Wrongful Birth: Medical Malpractice in Genetic Counseling and Prenatal Testing, 33 S.C. L. Rev. 713 (1982).

^[7] See Shipes v. Piggly Wiggly St. Andrews, Inc., 269 S.C. 479, 238 S.E.2d 167 (1977); Gause v. Doe, 317 S.C. 39, 451 S.E.2d 408 (Ct. App. 1994); Daniel v. Days Inn of America, Inc., 292 S.C. 291, 356 S.E.2d 129 (Ct. App. 1987); Dumont v. United States, 80 F. Supp. 2d 576 (D.S.C. 2000).