What is your opinion on “saviour siblings”?

**Laly** · 01-17-2022, 08:53 PM

Recently, Belgian newspapers publicized a court decision handed down a few months earlier, concerning a "saviour sibling" : Brussels court of first instance considered that "the birth of a child can cause harm which deserves financial compensation”. A decision that goes against Belgian and international case law.

This case concerns a Spanish family. In 2010, the couple went to Brussels, to a “renowned” clinic for their son, suffering from beta thalassemia. To cure it, the only option available is “a bone marrow transplant from a person who does not carry the gene concerned and is compatible with the recipient”. The parents then considered in vitro fertilization with preimplantation diagnosis (PGD) to select a compatible embryo, a “saviour sibling”.

During the ART process, three embryos were conceived in vitro. The doctors selected one, but inadvertently transferred two of them, so that two babies were born, but none of them was compatible with the eldest son. In 2018, the couple resorted again to PGD, in Madrid. A “donor baby” was born from this new ART. The bone marrow transplant “donated” by this child took place in 2020.

The couple then filed an appeal with the Belgian courts, on the grounds that “they wanted two children and now had four”. They demanded "a sanction against [the Belgian clinic involved] and compensation for moral and material damage".

Brussels Court of First Instance ruled in favor of this couple, granting “compensation” to the mother of €27,000 and to the father of €11,000, as well as “material compensation” of €25,000 for the couple, for the “ 'shock' when they learned that the twins could not be used as donors and 'fear and risks' generated by a new pregnancy". The eldest son also received €5,000 “for the delay suffered for his transplant”. The clinic for its part "promised to 'improve its procedures' to avoid the repetition of such a case". (Google translated)

**Smitty** · 01-17-2022, 09:23 PM

Bizarre. I dislike in vitro fertilization in general. But if you're going to do it, you ought to carry and give birth to the babies. It's not a 5th-grade science experiment. Then, there's the tort issue. This couple deserves no financial compensation whatsoever. It should be obvious that potential children may not be genetically suitable for their purposes, so the clinic is not responsible for children 2 and 3's unsuitability. It is responsible only for transferring two embryos instead of one. And, by undertaking this medical gamble a second time, the couple showed that they would have done so after two failed attempts anyway. And that takes me back to my beginning: You make three embryos in a petri dish, you get three babies. End of discussion.

**frankhammer** · 01-17-2022, 09:42 PM

As a business, never overpromise. It would be interesting to see if this was the case. The couple obviously had enough evidence to have won, however, 60K is more of a slap on the wrist financially in business terms.