Health News
Austrian court rejects "dignity" lawsuit over deformed baby
Apr 9, 2009, 14:37 GMT
Vienna - A court in Austria has thrown out a suit brought on behalf of a baby born with a deformed spine aimed at acknowledging his dignity of life, local media reported Thursday.
The lawsuit against the Austrian state was brought in the name of baby Emil Karg, who was born last August with an incompletely-formed spinal chord.
Emil's parents, Sabine and Andreas Karg, were seeking to overturn a separate Supreme Court ruling from last March which awarded damages to the mother of a child born with the same condition, after doctors failed to detect the abnormality before birth.
After a Vienna court threw out Emil's lawsuit on formal grounds,the family's lawyer Paul Sutterluety said that he planned to appeal and would bring the case before the human rights court in Strasbourg if his efforts in Austria brought no results.
'The fact that the birth and existence of a child can result in a damage claim for alimony inevitably leads to labelling the child as damaged,' Sutterluety was quoted by Austrian media as saying.
The Vienna court argued that it could only award financial damages in Emil's case but was in no position to rule on the alleged infringement of human dignity.
Emil is in good health, considering his condition, and weighs 8.5 kilograms, according to his parents who live in Lochau in western Austria.
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