Professional Negligence Law Reporter

The Rhode Island Supreme Court held that pediatric health care providers did not have a duty to timely diagnose a minor patient with cystic fibrosis so that his nonpatient parents could make an informed decision about their reproductive choices.

Heather and Jason Blouin had three children, two of whom were diagnosed as having cystic fibrosis. The Blouins sued several pediatric health care providers, alleging that the defendants had been negligent in the diagnosis, treatment, and provision of genetic counseling regarding the children’s diagnoses. The plaintiffs also alleged they would not have made the same reproductive choices had they timely learned they were carriers for cystic fibrosis. The defendants moved successfully for summary judgment.

Affirming, the state high court noted that very few state supreme courts have considered what duty, if any, a pediatric care provider owes to a nonpatient biological parent with regard to birth-related torts. The court found that while the defendants here owed a duty to their minor patient, there is no evidence that the plaintiffs discussed their reproductive health with the defendants. Moreover, the court said that notwithstanding that parents may reasonably expect to receive warnings about potential risks to them arising out of a minor child’s diagnosis, this expectation should not extend into an obligation. Decisions about who bears the costs of genetic screening and counseling are best left to the legislature, the court said.

Consequently, summary judgment for the defendants on the plaintiffs’ wrongful conception claims was proper.

Citation: Blouin v. Koster, 2024 WL 3868166 (R.I. Aug. 20, 2024).