Women appeal to Connecticut Supreme Court in case against fertility doctor who fathered them
Kayla Suprynowicz and Reilly Flaherty were surprised to learn after genetic testing, that instead of northern European heritage, they were instead blessed with DNA from Pakistani, Northern Indian and Central Asian ancestry. Apparently, the doctor who provided their separate mothers with fertilization treatments also provided his own sperm as the donor.
This was contrary to what their parents understood to be taking place during the treatments. They filed lawsuits in 2021 against Dr. Narendra Tohan, who still practices with restrictions, in Connecticut. Their original suit was dismissed by a Superior Court judge who asserted that their claim for negligence was really a suit for “wrongful life,” which is not currently recognized in Connecticut jurisprudence. It is a relatively new legal concept “that argues a person’s birth or existence is the damage that deserves compensation.”
The women have now appealed to the Connecticut Supreme Court, stating that they believe their claims of negligence against the doctor do not amount to “wrongful life” claims, and they also want the Court to “consider whether it should allow wrongful life claims to be brought in Connecticut in the future,”
According to one Harvard Medical School study, 62% of children born after being conceived through donor technologies consider it to be immoral and unethical, and the grown children experienced “significant distress” upon learning of their unnatural conception.