THE COMMONEST reason for cases coming to court regarding vasectomies is because of pregnancy resulting from the vasectomy failing. A number of high-profile cases in the 1990s established the principal that, although damages could be claimed for the pain and trauma of the pregnancy and the failed operation, the costs of bringing up a resultant child cannot be claimed. A number of courts, including the House of Lords in 1998, concluded that the birth of a healthy child should be regarded as “a blessing” rather than an unmitigated disaster.
Substantial damages have been awarded, however, in cases where the failure of the vasectomy results in complications that cause severe pain.
A celebrated case came to court in Edinburgh in 2008. A man from East Lothian had to have his testicles removed following a ‘botched’ vasectomy in 1996. There followed 12 years of severe pain before the case even came to court.
Ruling in favour of the complainant, Lord Uist said: “On a consideration of the whole evidence on this point, I find that the pursuer suffered neuropathic pain...when Dr Dewart inserted an instrument into an unanaesthetised part of his scrotum in the course of blunt dissection during the attempted vasectomy procedure.”
The man claimed £1m in damages against Lothian Health Board. He won his case but the damages were undisclosed.