Burke v. Rivo
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
551 N.E.2d 1 (Mass. 1990)
Carole Burke (plaintiff), struggling financially with three children already and wanting to return to work, told her doctor Elliot Rivo (defendant) she didn't want more children; Rivo recommended bipolar cauterization for sterilization but never disclosed its risk of recanalization (the fallopian tube reopening), and Burke became pregnant with a fourth child after her tube recanalized. Burke sued Rivo for negligence, the trial court found for Burke, and the case reached the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on the certified question of whether she could recover the costs of raising her unwanted fourth child.
Whether, in a wrongful-birth case, a plaintiff may recover damages for the cost of raising her unwanted child, where the plaintiff sought to avoid pregnancy for economic reasons.