The child has an accepted risk of 50 per cent of contracting the disease, but it is not yet possible to reach a diagnosis in her case… (paragraph 15) The claim therefore includes a “wrongful birth” claim in respect of the child. If her own diagnosis was confirmed, she would have terminated the pregnancy… Her diagnosis would have precluded any subsequent pregnancy. If informed of her father’s diagnosis she would have sought to be tested for Huntington’s Disease. She says it was critical that she should be informed of her father’s diagnosis, in the light of her pregnancy. The Claimant alleges that the Defendants owed her a duty of care. She subsequently underwent testing, and in January 2013 was herself diagnosed as suffering from Huntington’s Disease. On 23 August 2010, the Claimant was accidentally informed about the father’s diagnosis.
The father’s diagnosis was confirmed during 2009. He was sentenced to a hospital order… (paragraph 4) He was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. In 2007, the Claimant’s father shot and killed her mother. J struck out the claim at common law on the ground that there was “no reasonably arguable duty of care”… He also struck out a claim formulated under the Human Rights Act 1998… (paragraph 1) Appeal against the decision of Nicol J given on.
