Para-showjumper wins landmark 'wrongful conception' case
In a unique 'wrongful conception' damages claim, Evie Toombes, 20, sued her mum's GP over his failure to advise her mother to take vital supplements before getting pregnant.
- Evie has spina bifida and often spends up to 24 hours a day connected to tubes
- She claimed her mother's GP failed to advise her on vital supplements to take
- Evie sued Dr Philip Mitchell for 'wrongful conception' in a landmark legal case
- Judge Rosalind Coe QC backed Evie's case and awarded her the right to a huge compensation payout
Evie Toombes, 20, was born with spina bifida and sometimes spends 24 hours-a-day connected up to tubes, but has forged a career in showjumping, competing against both disabled and able-bodied riders.
Last month, in a unique 'wrongful conception' damages claim, Evie, from Skegness, sued Dr Philip Mitchell over his failure to advise her mother Caroline Toombes, 50, to take vital supplements before getting pregnant.
She claimed that if the doctor had told her mother she needed to take folic acid supplements to minimise the risk of spina bifida affecting her baby, she would have put off getting pregnant until she had done so - and as a result Evie would never have been born at all.
And in a landmark ruling in London today, Judge Rosalind Coe QC backed Evie's case and awarded her the right to a huge compensation payout.
Her lawyers earlier said the amount Evie is claiming has not yet been calculated, but confirmed it would be 'big' since it would cover the cost of her extensive lifelong care needs.
The judge ruled that had Evie's mother been 'provided with the correct recommended advice, she would have delayed attempts to conceive.'
She added: 'In the circumstances, there would have been a later conception, which would have resulted in a normal healthy child.'
The court had heard how Evie's mother had made a 'very precious decision to start a family' after losing her parents when she was young, and had refrained from sexual intercourse, 'until after they had received advice' from the GP.
The ground-breaking ruling means that a healthcare professional can now be found liable for negligent pre-conception advice which results in the birth of a child with a serious health condition.
Evie, who has thanked her mother and father for their support in blog posts, recently spoke about her issues on the ITV show Hidden Disabilities: What's The Truth?
The 20-year-old had sued for 'wrongful conception' and for 'having been born in a damaged state,' her barrister Susan Rodway QC told the court.
Ruling, the judge found that Dr Mitchell had not told Mrs Toombes of the importance of taking folic acid supplements before getting pregnant.
And if she had been told, she would have delayed conceiving and instead had a different, totally healthy, baby, the judge added.
During the trial last month, the court heard that 50-year-old Mrs Toombes - who is also a keen horsewoman - had gone to see Dr Mitchell at the Hawthorn practice to discuss her plans to have her first baby in February 2001.
'This was a very precious decision to start a family, because she herself had lost her parents when she was young,' Mrs Rodway told the judge.
'They had been refraining from sexual intercourse until after they had received advice at this consultation.'
But despite discussing folic acid during the consultation, Mrs Toombes claimed that she was not told by Dr Mitchell of its importance in spina bifida prevention.
She told the judge that the doctor had told her to go home and have 'lots of sex', which she found 'somewhat blunt.'
'He told me it was not necessary,' she told the judge. 'I was advised that if I had a good diet previously, I would not have to take folic acid.'
Mrs Rodway said that, had Mrs Toombes been properly advised by Dr Mitchell, she would not have gone on to conceive as quickly as she did.
She would have paused her pregnancy plans, started a course of folic acid treatment and then attempted to conceive, she claims.
'It is her evidence she would have read up on it and wouldn't have attempted to become pregnant until she was satisfied that she had protected herself as much as possible,' she said.
If she had indeed been put off getting pregnant, she would have had a 'normal, healthy' baby - but one who was a 'genetically different person' to Evie, the QC added.
After her birth in November 2001, Evie was diagnosed with a lipomylomeningocoele (LMM), a form of neural tube defect to the spine leading to permanent disability.
Her mobility is said to be 'very limited' and she will depend more and more on a wheelchair as she grows older, while she also suffers with bowel and bladder issues, the court heard.
Michael De Navarro QC, for the doctor, denied liability, suggesting that Mrs Toombes might already have been pregnant when she went to see Dr Mitchell.
He told the judge that Dr Mitchell claimed to have given 'reasonable advice' about the desirability of folic acid supplements being taken.
It was his usual practice to tell prospective parents that 400 micrograms should be taken by those preparing for pregnancy and all through their first trimester once pregnant.
He said he would have said that if the mother had a good diet and so good folic acid levels anyway, supplements would be less important, but denied saying they were not necessary.
n.b. this news is coming up to a month old, and the case has already been extensively discussed on the Munchies thread over at BP.
