No. CS/HB 289
Filed under Legal.
Civil Liability for the Wrongful Death of an Unborn Child; Revises definition of term "survivors" to include parents of unborn child; provides definition for term "unborn child"; prohibits right of action against mother for wrongful death of unborn child or against health care provider for lawful medical care provided in certain circumstances; authorizes parents of unborn child to recover certain damages; prohibits recovery of certain damages if decedent is unborn child.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDParents of an unborn child gain the right to sue for its wrongful death, since the law now counts them as 'survivors' entitled to bring and share in such a claim.
'Unborn child' is defined by pointing to the state's criminal code, rather than spelled out in this bill, so its exact scope depends on that separate definition.
No wrongful-death suit may be brought against the mother herself, and none may be brought against a health care provider, as defined by existing malpractice law, who gave lawful care that met the standard of care with her consent.
Parents of an unborn child can also recover for their own mental pain and suffering, but the decedent's estate cannot recover the unborn child's lost future net income.
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 health care provider, as defined in the state's medical malpractice law, whose care was lawful and met the applicable standard of care.
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.
AIRather than defining 'unborn child' within this chapter, the bill adopts whatever meaning the term already carries under a criminal-code provision, so the scope of who counts as an unborn child depends on that separate statute.
AIA decedent's personal representative may recover the decedent's lost net accumulations only under listed conditions, one of which now excludes any case where the decedent was an unborn child, closing off that recovery route for a fetus's hypothetical future earnings.