## Facts

- Sundi A. Greco received prenatal care from physicians at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
- She alleged the physicians negligently failed to timely diagnose gross fetal defects and failed to inform her while termination of pregnancy was still a lawful option.
- Joshua Greco was born with severe physical deformities and was expected to experience substantial pain and impairment.
- Sundi Greco sought damages for, among other items, extraordinary child-care costs and emotional distress associated with the birth and care of a severely disabled child.
- On Joshua’s behalf, Greco asserted a “wrongful life” theory that the physicians’ negligence caused him to be born into a life of pain and deprivation.
- In an FTCA suit pending in federal district court, questions were certified to the Supreme Court of Nevada asking whether Nevada law recognizes (1) the mother’s claim and (2) the child’s claim.

## Issues

1. Whether Nevada negligence/medical-malpractice law recognizes a claim by a mother when negligent prenatal diagnosis deprives her of the opportunity to terminate a pregnancy involving gross fetal defects (commonly labeled “wrongful birth”).
2. Whether Nevada law recognizes a cause of action by a child born with congenital defects alleging injury from being born (commonly labeled “wrongful life”).

## Decision

- Nevada answered the first certified question yes: a mother may bring a malpractice claim against professionals whose negligent failure to timely diagnose gross and disabling fetal defects denied her the opportunity to terminate the pregnancy.
- Nevada answered the second certified question no: the child has no personal cause of action for “wrongful life.”
- The court treated the mother’s claim as a conventional negligence/medical-malpractice action based on duty, breach of the medical standard of care, causation, and damages.
- The court rejected the child’s claim because it would require courts to treat existence with impairments as a legally cognizable injury compared to nonexistence, a comparison the court found unworkable.

## Legal Principles

- A physician’s negligent failure to timely diagnose and disclose gross fetal abnormalities can proximately cause compensable harm to the mother by depriving her of a legally available choice to terminate the pregnancy.
- A “wrongful birth” claim is analyzed within ordinary medical-malpractice doctrine rather than as an independent tort.
- Nevada does not recognize “wrongful life” claims because they depend on evaluating whether nonexistence is preferable to life with disabilities, and the law cannot coherently measure damages on that premise.
- Prior Nevada authority limiting recovery for the ordinary costs of raising a healthy child does not bar a mother’s malpractice claim predicated on the avoidable birth of a severely disabled child following negligent prenatal care.

## Conclusion

Nevada recognized a mother’s medical-malpractice claim when negligent prenatal diagnosis foreclosed a timely decision to terminate a pregnancy involving severe fetal defects, but refused to recognize a child’s claim that being born with impairments is itself a compensable injury.


Greco v. United States, 893 P.2d 345 (Nev. 1995)