Does a doctor owe a duty to the future child of a mother who is on a medication prescribed by her doctor to prevent her from having a seizure?

Manitoba, Canada


The following excerpt is from Lacroix (Guardian of) v. Dominique, 2001 MBCA 122 (CanLII):

40 In any event, close as this case may seem to Webster v. Chapman, supra, it features one fact not present in that other case. The mother in the present case testified that, if she had been advised of the danger, she would have avoided pregnancy, testimony which was accepted by the trial judge. It is thus quite clear that the mother would have elected to remain on the medication, notwithstanding the risk to a fetus should she unintentionally conceive. In that circumstance, it is impossible, in my view, to hold that the doctor owed a duty to the future child not to prescribe a medication for the mother which, though potentially harmful to the child, was required both for the mother’s health and to avoid the risk to a fetus of the mother having a seizure.

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