No. SB 164
Filed under Legal.
Civil Liability for the Wrongful Death of an Unborn Child; Revising the definition of the term “survivors” to include the parents of an unborn child; defining the term “unborn child”; prohibiting a right of action against the mother for the wrongful death of an unborn child or against a medical provider for lawful medical care provided in certain circumstances, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDParents of an unborn child can now sue for its wrongful death, and courts must treat them as survivors entitled to damages the same way parents of a deceased minor child are.
The law defines 'unborn child' broadly, as a human being at any stage of development while carried in the womb, from the earliest weeks of pregnancy through birth.
No wrongful-death suit may be brought against the mother herself, no matter the circumstances of the death, and none may be brought against a medical provider who followed the standard of care with her consent.
That immunity explicitly extends to care related to assisted reproductive technologies, protecting fertility providers from wrongful-death claims whenever the mother consented to the treatment provided.
AIThe definition of 'survivors' entitled to recover in a wrongful-death case is expanded to include the parents of an unborn child, alongside the spouses, children, and other dependents already listed.
AIRegardless of what any other part of the wrongful-death law might otherwise allow, a lawsuit for an unborn child's wrongful death may not be filed against the child's own mother.
AIA wrongful-death suit over an unborn child's death also cannot be brought against a medical provider whose care was lawful, met the applicable standard of care, and was consented to by the mother, explicitly including care tied to assisted reproductive technology.
AIParents of an unborn child gain the same right already given to parents of a deceased minor child: recovering damages for their own mental pain and suffering from the date of the injury.
AIA new definition adds 'unborn child' to the wrongful-death statute's terms, covering a human fetus from the earliest stage of development through birth, as long as it is carried in the womb.