ruling that father seeking to recover as bystander for malpractice that resulted in death of his child several days after the child's birth "must contemporaneously observe the malpractice and its effects on the victim"
How later courts described this case
- ruling that father seeking to recover as bystander for malpractice that resulted in death of his child several days after the child's birth "must contemporaneously observe the malpractice and its effects on the victim"
- permitting mother’s claim for emotional distress based on doctor’s misdiagnosis of fetus because “the physical and emotional ties between mother and fetus so unite them that a physician should anticipate that any malpractice that adversely affects the fetus will cause emotional distress to the mother”
- requiring with respect to malpractice resulting in death of newborn, that “a mother must prove that she suffered emotional distress so severe that it resulted in physical manifestations or that it destroyed her basic emotional security”; and that a father “must be shocked by the results"
- applying that principle to expert testimony on valuation issues
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
O’HERN, J.,
concurring in result.
For affirmance in part; for reversal in part; for remandment — Chief Justice WILENTZ, and Justices CLIFFORD, HANDLER, POLLOCK, O’HERN, GARIBALDI and STEIN — 7.
Opposed —None.