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A Colombian doctor has been ordered by a court of law to financially
support a patient’s baby until it turns 18 after the patient ended up
conceiving the baby despite undergoing a vasectomy.
Diego Naranjo, a doctor from Medellin, Colombia, will have to pay
millions of pesos to support one of his patients’ baby after he assured
the man that the vasectomy he had performed had been successful and he
no longer needed to use other means of contraception. However, the man
ended up leaving his wife pregnant and having an unplanned baby.
Subsequent sperm tests showed that the vasectomy had in fact not been
successful, and the parents of the baby sued the doctor, claiming that
his mistake had had serious implications, both financial and emotional.
A judge has now ruled that the doctor must support the baby until it
turns 18 years old.
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“As a result of this unexpected conclusion, the patient was not
recommended to continue using contraceptive methods to avoid the risk of
pregnancy,” the recent court ruling read. “When it was proven that the
parents did not want to procreate more children, it was concluded that
there was an impact on their life projects that had repercussions in the
immaterial field, especially considering the precarious economic
situation of the father, who currently cannot work due to their health
problems.”
The baby’s father suffers from a debilitating condition called severe
bilateral hearing loss, which prevents him from working. He experiences
frequent dizziness and vomiting and must wear a hearing aid in order to
hear properly. The condition prevented the man from finding employment,
so the judge ruled that the doctor responsible for the conception of the
baby must be held responsible.
According to the recent court ruling, Dr. Naranjo will have to pay the
patient’s family 80 current minimum wages, or 92 million pesos ($20,300)
in moral damages, 60 million pesos ($13,200) in legal fees, and 143
million pesos ($31,500) as child support.
Interestingly, the botched vasectomy was performed in 2012, and the
patient’s baby, a girl, was born the following year. She is currently 10
years old, so the doctor only has eight more years of financial support.
It’s unclear why the parents took so long to take legal action against
the doctor. |