Paralysis, Incoordination and Involuntary Movements

The Action for “Wrongful Life” in England and the United States

“…They could be, and initially were, condemned in language every bit as intemperate as that to be found in "wrongful life" cases. Yet, when the courts began to abandon the "overriding benefit" theory and to apply the "special benefits" rule, 84 sometimes even awarding damages for the rearing of healthy but unwanted children, 85 they were inescapably drawn into comparing the value to parents of having a child with not having one. Why then have they been markedly more sympathetic to such claims than to those of the children themselves?…”