PA court throws out 'wrongful birth' lawsuit ban

(Harrisburg) -- A state appeals court says the Legislature violated the state constitution when it included a ban on lawsuits based on ``wrongful birth'' in a statute with other provisions.

A Superior Court panel has issued a 3-to-0 ruling in the case of an expectant couple. They sued doctors and medical facilities for allegedly not telling them the mother-to-be was a carrier of a genetic mutation that causes familial dysautonomia, a rare neurological condition. 

The judges say the lawsuit ban wasn't sufficiently related to the rest of the bill when it passed in1988, so violated the constitution's ``single-subject'' provision.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Richard Abraham, says the parents are suing to collect the millions of dollars for medical care their son will need. Sheila Ann Haren, a lawyer for the defendants, declined comment.