logo
Google Reviews Logo

317.636.6481

One Indiana Square, Suite 1400 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204

Make a Payment
logo
CONTACT US
CALL US
  • Home
  • Firm Overview
  • Our Attorneys
  • Practice Areas
    • Pharmaceutical Drug & Medical Device Litigation
    • Personal Injury
    • Sexual Abuse
    • Class Action
    • Medical Malpractice
    • Eminent Domain
    • Family Law
    • Business Services, Real Estate & Business Litigation
    • Bankruptcy, Creditor’s Rights, & Commercial & Business Law
    • Appellate Law
  • Firm News
    • News & Announcements
    • Alerts
  • Resources
    • Video Library
    • Blog
  • Contact Us
Google Reviews Logo

317.636.6481

One Indiana Square, Suite 1400 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204

Make a Payment
  • Home
  • Firm Overview
  • Our Attorneys
  • Practice Areas
    • Pharmaceutical Drug & Medical Device Litigation
    • Personal Injury
    • Sexual Abuse
    • Class Action
    • Medical Malpractice
    • Eminent Domain
    • Family Law
    • Business Services, Real Estate & Business Litigation
    • Bankruptcy, Creditor’s Rights, & Commercial & Business Law
    • Appellate Law
  • Firm News
    • News & Announcements
    • Alerts
  • Resources
    • Video Library
    • Blog
  • Contact Us

Home » Blog » Supreme Court Allows Emotional Distress Damages in Stillbirth Medical Malpractice Case

Supreme Court Allows Emotional Distress Damages in Stillbirth Medical Malpractice Case

by:David Cutshaw, Attorney
On December 13, the Indiana Supreme Court, in the case of Spangler v. Bechtel, determined that the parents of a fully developed fetus which was still-born may recover damages for emotional distress if the child was still-born as the result of medical malpractice. This emotional distress claim by both parents may be based upon the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act and the Child Wrongful Death Act.
hands.jpg

The Spangler case represents a change in Indiana law which recognizes the incredible grief that parents experience when a healthy appearing fetus is still-born. We are representing some parents who have just gone through this and it is heart-breaking to hear their stories and hear how hard it is to get over this hideous ordeal.
The Spangler case comes on the heels of a new statute (Ind. Code § 34-23-2-1) passed by the Indiana legislature in 2009 that permits parents whose unborn baby was stillborn (as the result of medical malpractice or negligence such as injury in a car accident) to file a stethoscope.jpgwrongful death suit if the fetus has attained viability. (Viability is undefined in the statute, but would probably relate to a fetus who, in the opinion of a physician, would have survived outside the womb.) Prior to the 2009 statute, a fetus which was killed due to a car accident or which died during child birth as the result of malpractice was not considered to be a child under the Child Wrongful Death Act. Such fetuses were considered to be living things in the criminal statutes or context; so it was confusing as to why they were not similarly considered in the civil lawsuit context.
In any event, the Child Wrongful Death statute now permits a parent to recover the loss of the infant’s (viable fetus’s) love, care and affection over the life expectancy of the parents. The Spangler case also allows the parents to recover their emotional distress at having to go through such a tragedy and the years of subsequent emotional distress over the years it takes a parent to get over this ordeal–if ever they do.

One Indiana Square Suite 1400
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204

Copyright ©  Cohen & Malad, LLP. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer  |  Privacy Policy

 

Schedule a free consultation Today
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Schedule a free consultation Today

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

ALERTS

Former Speedway High School Teacher and Coach Faces Child Seduction Charges

The Marion County Prosecutor has charged Tyler Carmichael, a former teacher at Speedway High School and track .. Read More

SEE ALL ALERTS

In the News

Indiana Legal Services and Indiana State Bar Foundation Receive $90,000 donation from Cohen & Malad, LLP Class Action United Way of Central Indiana’s Center for Working Families Receives $32,000 from Cohen & Malad, LLP Settlement Funds Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership Receives $32,000 from Cohen & Malad, LLP Settlement Funds
READ OUR NEWS