This note considers the recent decision in ACB v Thomson Medical Pte Ltd and others [2015] SGHC 9 in which the High Court of Singapore refused a claim for the cost of raising a child who was born after her mother was negligently implanted with an egg which had been fertilized not by her husband's sperm but by that of a third party.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2574514_code346166.pdf?abstractid=2574514&mirid=1

An IVF Baby and a Catastrophic Error - Actions for Wrongful Conception and Wrongful Birth Revisited in Singapore - ACB v Thomson Medical Pte Ltd and Others

This note considers the decision of the Singapore Court of Appeal in ACB v Thomson
Medical [2017] SGCA 20, in which the plaintiff sought damages for the upkeep costs of a
child conceived using sperm from someone other than her husband as a result of
negligence by a fertility clinic. The Court held that upkeep costs could not be recovered
as a matter of public policy, but recognised a new head of loss, namely damages for loss
of genetic affinity. In a controversial ruling, the Court quantified these damages at thirty
percent of the upkeep costs of the child. While holding that punitive damages could be
recovered outside the categories recognised in Rookes v Barnard, the Court rejected such
an award on the facts of the case.

/pdf/inaccurate-conception-acb-v-thomson-medical-2xzzgol2w9.pdf

Tom Foxton

Papers

Inaccurate Conception: ACB v Thomson Medical