(found the story on CBC.ca)
Alberta's justice minister says he will be introducing legislation allowing children injured in car accidents while still in the womb to sue their mothers.
The premise sounds good. If your insurance company won't pay for the medical care needed you should be able to sue them. BUt I think that (as is common with this government) they haven't thought through all the ramifacations. This could easily be a precedent that opens the door for all kinds of stuff.
The case that sparked this proposal involves a couple who are married and working together, but what if the couple was separated/divorced and this type of lawsuit became a ploy in a custody battle?
WHat about the FAS/FAE child? Or the child born drug addicted? What other reasons might people come up with for suing their mother for pre-natal injury/abuse?
And then, in the end, there is the matter of "passing the buck". Is the government really just trying to save itself money? Maybe the health care system should be absorbing some of these costs--but if we can make the insurance company pay then it isn't our problem.
I empathize with the theory. But to me this could well be a slippery slope--or adding oil to an already slippery slope.
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