I should never have been born
Showjumper with spina bifida sues mother’s GP over advice he gave during pregnancy, saying:
A SHOWJUMPER born with spina bifida is suing her mother’s GP in a landmark High Court battle.
Evie Toombes, 20, a rising star in Paralympic sport, sometimes spends 24 hours a day connected up to tubes. In a ‘wrongful conception’ damages claim, she is suing GP Dr Philip Mitchell for millions of pounds, claiming she should never have been born.
Miss Toombes says Dr Mitchell failed to advise her mother Caroline to take vital supplements before getting pregnant. She claims that, if he had told Mrs Toombes she needed to take folic acid supplements to minimise the risk of spina bifida affecting her baby, she would have put off getting pregnant until she had done so – and as a result Miss Toombes would never have been born. Miss Toombes’ barrister, Susan Rodway QC, told Judge Rosalind Coe yesterday that she was suing for ‘having been born in a damaged state’ and wanted millions in damages to cover the increased cost of living a disabled life.
But Dr Mitchell, who at the time was working at the Hawthorn Medical Practice in Skegness, Lincolnacid shire, ‘comprehensively denies’ liability, claiming he gave Mrs Toombes ‘reasonable advice’.
Doctors routinely advise prospective mothers of the benefits of taking folic acid supplements before conceiving and throughout the first 12 weeks of their pregnancy to ward off the risk of spina bifida.
The High Court in London heard that Mrs Toombes, 50, herself a keen horsewoman, went to see Dr Mitchell at the Hawthorn practice to discuss her plans to have a first baby in February 2001.
Mrs Rodway told the judge: ‘This was a very precious decision to start a family, because she herself had lost her parents when she was young.
‘They had been refraining from sexual intercourse until after they had received advice at this consultation.’ But despite discussing folic during the consultation, Mrs Toombes claims she was not told by Dr Mitchell of its importance in spina bifida prevention.
‘He told me it was not necessary,’ she told the judge. ‘I was advised that if I had a good diet previously, I would not have to take folic acid.’
The barrister said that, had Mrs Toombes been properly advised by Dr Mitchell, she would not have gone on to conceive as quickly as she did. She would have paused her pregnancy plans, started a course of folic acid treatment and then attempted to conceive, she added.
Mrs Rodway said: ‘It is her evidence she would have read up on it and wouldn’t have attempted to become pregnant until she was satisfied that she had protected herself as much as possible.’
If she had indeed put off getting pregnant, she would have had a ‘normal, healthy’ baby, but one who was a ‘genetically different person’ to Evie, the QC said.
After her birth in November 2001, Miss Toombes was diagnosed with ali po my el o men in goce le, a form of neural tube defect to the spine leading to permanent disability.
Her mobility is said to be ‘very limited’ and she will depend more and more on a wheelchair as she grows older, while she also suffers with bowel and bladder issues, the court heard.
The trial continues.
‘Very limited mobility’