Carole Burke & Another v. Elliot Rivo

In an action by parents against a physician asserting tort and contract claims arising from the birth of a normal and healthy,
but unwanted, child after the physician had performed a sterilization procedure which the mother had sought for reasons founded
on economic or financial considerations, the parents were to be allowed recovery, as one component of their damages, of the
cost of rearing the child to adulthood, offset by the benefit, if any, that the parents receive or will receive from having
the child. [766-773] O'CONNOR, J., with whom NOLAN and LYNCH, JJ., joined, Dissenting. A Judge in the Superior Court reported to the Appeals Court pursuant to Mass. R. Civ. P. 64, 365 Mass. 831 (1974), the question
of the proper measure of damages recoverable by the parents of a normal, healthy child who was conceived and born (1) following
the defendant physician's alleged negligent performance of a sterilization procedure on the mother, and (2) following the
physician's alleged guarantee that the sterilization procedure would prevent any future pregnancy. The case, which we transferred
here on our own motion, presents an issue of first impression.