A woman has made the headlines after suing her mother’s doctor for letting her be born in a “damaged” state.
20-year-old Evie Toombes is a showjumper from Skegness, England, who is suing her mom’s doctor after he allegedly forgot to inform the woman about the importance of folic acid when she got pregnant.
As Evie insists, she would never be born with spina bifida and be forced to face the challenges that came along with her condition if the doctor of her mother, now-50-year-old Caroline Toombes, did his job.
In her suit, the daughter insists that Dr. Philip Mitchell failed to inform her mother about the importance of taking folic acid supplements during pregnancy and the fact that it can help prevent spina bifida.
Accusing the doctor of “negligence,” Evie said she should never have been conceived and born.point 391 |
Furthermore, the 20-year-old’s attorney, Susan Rodway, suggested that Caroline could put getting pregnant on hold and later give birth to a healthy child if only the doctor made her aware of the dangers of folate deficiency.point 191 | 1
“This was a very precious decision to start a family, because she herself had lost her parents when she was young,” Rodway told the judge.
“They had been refraining from sexual intercourse until after they had received advice at this consultation.”
She added: “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.”
Though folic acid was allegedly discussed during her consultation with Dr. Mitchell, Caroline claims that she was not told how important it was in preventing spina bifida.
“He told me it was not necessary. I was advised that if I had a good diet previously, I would not have to take folic acid,” Caroline said.
Following the accusations that he played a role in Caroline’s folate deficiency and the “damaged state” that Evie was born in, Dr. Mitchell has “comprehensively denied” liability.
As the doctor says, he gave the then-30-year-old mom-to-be “reasonable advice.” He also insists he always advised prospective parents to consume 400 micrograms of folic acid in preparation for pregnancy and during the first trimester.
While he admitted saying taking supplements might be less important if the person gets enough folates through other means – such as a healthy, folate-rich diet – he denied telling Caroline that taking supplements was not necessary at all.
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