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7 Health L.J. 19 (1999)
Wrongful Life Actions as a Means of Regulating Use of Genetic and Reproductive Technologies

handle is hein.journals/hthlj7 and id is 23 raw text is: Wrongful Life Actions as a Means of Regulating Use of Genetic and Reproductive Technologies Shaun D. Pattinson* Introduction The developing reproductive and genetic technologies present increasing possibilities for attempts to choose or influence the traits or prospects of children before their birth, and, where another's conduct results in the birth or conception of a child with traits or prospects considered unsatisfactory by the child or its parents, the law of tort' presents itself as a candidate for obtaining a remedy. Thus, it seems appropriate to explore the potential of tort law to regulate use of the genetic and reproductive technologies. This paper will begin by outlining the types of tort actions available against those responsible for the conception or birth of a child who has allegedly unsatisfactory traits or prospects. Focusing on what have been termed wrongful life actions, I will ask whether such actions are justifiable, before examining the only English wrongful life case. 1.1 Civil Actions and the Genetic and Reproductive Techniques There are a number of theoretically possible causes of action available following the conception or birth of a child with allegedly unsatisfactory traits or prospects. I will first outline the main candidates, in the form of ideal-typical categories of possible types of action. These categories are not meant to describe those causes of action recognised in any particular jurisdiction. The types of action can be classified under headings as follows.2 'Shaun Pattinson is a PhD student at the Sheffield Institute of Biotechnological Law and Ethics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. The author would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the British Academy, Arts and Humanities Research Board. 'Many of the points made with regard to the law of tort are equally applicable to its civil law equivalent, i.e., the law of delict, 2The following labels are also used by Kennedy and Grubb. See I. Kennedy & A. Grubb, Medical Law: Text with Materials, 2d ed. (London: Butterworths, 1994) at 927-1006. Nonetheless, these categories exhibit slight definitional differences from those of Kennedy and Grubb.