## Facts

- Brandy Taylor received prenatal care involving Dr. Surender Kurapati and Annapolis Hospital.
- Dr. Kurapati interpreted an initial prenatal ultrasound as showing no visible fetal abnormalities.
- A later ultrasound raised concern that the fetus’s femurs could not be clearly identified and recommended further investigation; the parents were told the baby might be shorter than average, and Brandy Taylor declined an additional ultrasound.
- Shelby Taylor was born with severe anatomical deformities.
- The parents alleged negligent prenatal diagnosis and counseling deprived them of informed reproductive choice, including the option to terminate the pregnancy, causing extraordinary medical and child-rearing costs and emotional harm.
- The parents filed and refiled suit alleging wrongful birth and negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED); the trial court granted summary disposition for defendants.

## Issues

1. Whether Michigan courts should recognize a parental cause of action for wrongful birth absent legislative authorization or Michigan Supreme Court approval.
2. Whether the claims, properly characterized as medical malpractice, were barred by the medical-malpractice statute of limitations.
3. Whether the alleged facts satisfied Michigan’s requirements for bystander NIED.

## Decision

- Affirmed summary disposition for defendants.
- Declined to recognize wrongful birth as a common-law cause of action absent legislative action.
- Held the claims were time-barred under the two-year statute of limitations applicable to medical malpractice.
- Held the NIED claim failed because the parents did not contemporaneously witness a negligently inflicted injury to the child and did not meet Michigan’s strict NIED requirements.

## Legal Principles

- An intermediate appellate court will not recognize a novel tort with major public-policy consequences where neither the Legislature nor the state supreme court has authorized it.
- Claims arising from alleged negligent medical diagnosis, interpretation, and counseling are treated as medical malpractice and are governed by the malpractice limitations period.
- Michigan bystander NIED generally requires negligence to another, close relationship, contemporaneous perception of the injury-producing event or resulting injury, and serious emotional distress commonly accompanied by physical manifestation; learning of a condition later is insufficient.

## Conclusion

The court refused to recognize wrongful birth in Michigan absent legislative authorization, concluded the parents’ allegations sounded in medical malpractice and were untimely, and held the asserted emotional-distress theory did not meet Michigan’s narrow bystander NIED standard.


Taylor v. Kurapati, 236 Mich. App. 315, 600 N.W.2d 670 (Mich. Ct. App. 1999)