FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7 1999
Infertile woman sues for baby costs
BY FRANCES GIBB, LEGAL EDITOR
A TEACHER left childless and infertile after two baby boys were stillborn brought a "unique" High Court claim yesterday for damages to pay for a surrogate mother to provide the baby she craves.
Margaret Briody, 46, who suffered years of heartache and the failure of her marriage as she dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder, is claiming £200,000. More than £87,000 of that is to cover the cost of surrogacy to give her the child or children she wants.
Richard Hone, QC, her counsel, told Mrs. Justice Ebsworth, that it was a "unique" claim. He said: "This is the first time that such a claim has advanced to trial, the first occasion in an English court where damages for surrogacy is being litigated, whether it is reasonable, just and equitable that Miss Briody can be awarded damages for surrogacy, even though the prospect of her own eggs being used is small.
"She has been deprived of her own genetic child because of negligence and all we say is she should be allowed to try."
Miss Briody, of Billinge, near Wigan, was just 18 when she became pregnant for the first time after a whirlwind romance and marriage to Ray Moore in 1971. However, after an emergency Caesarean operation at Whiston Hospital, St Helens, Merseyside, in April 1972, her baby boy was stillborn after being strangled by his umbilical cord.
She became pregnant again almost immediately and, within 12 months, in March 1993, then 19, she was admitted to Cowley Hill Hospital, St Helens, for the birth. Another Caesarean operation resulted in a second stillborn baby boy. Her uterus had ruptured and she had to have a partial hysterectomy, leaving her childless and infertile.
In March last year, a judge found St Helens and Knowsley Area Health Authority responsible for the hospital negligent over the second stillbirth. Now the judge is being asked to award her damages.
As well as the damages for surrogacy, she seeks more than £76,000 for her pain and suffering and £20,000 in lost earnings, plus expenses.
Mr. Hone said the reason that the case had taken so long to get to court was because Miss Briody had "lost all confidence" but got on with her life. She was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and had given up her original plan to become a teacher and took mundane jobs working as a clerk for the Inland Revenue and DSS. In 1990 she and her husband parted because of the strain, but now she had a new partner and a new job as a primary school teacher.
Mr. Hone said it was hoped that she could produce an egg or eggs, which would be fertilized by her partner's sperm and placed in a host female for the birth.
For More Information Contact:
CompanyLongName
CompanyAddress
Tel: CompanyPhone
FAX: CompanyFAX
Internet: CompanyEmail