Hello. A woman has an abortion. Afterward she has an infection which forces her to be taken to the hospital. She now owes $2500 in doctor bills, and is threatening to sue the baby's father for these bills. Is there any liability on the part of the baby's father, assuming that they are not married?

Good morning, I work at a abortion clinic. If this woman is going to sue some one I think the clinic holds liability as well as the father. The father was the cause of her going to the clinic in the first place and the clinic is responsible for her medical condition. Good luck and God Bless. Tom

The clinic cannot be sued due to infection. If that were the case every hospital and doc in the world would be sued silly and we would have no where to go - I know I worked in a med center for 10 yrs and the things we were getting hit with were most of the time blame for things that probably would have happened anyway... now the father that put her in the situation to begin with - well, you might lean that way. The important thing is that you are OK now I hope. I know money is hard to come by for un foreseen things like medical, but it is worth it in the long run - also if you are "making a reasonable attempt at payment" they cannot turn you over to collection agent - it can be 5$ a month... fyi

The father is 100% not liable for an infection suffered during an abortion. But I would be absolutely delighted to hear some of the "legal theories" you guys think you could go with.

Jake is partially right. Suing a medical provider for an infection is a VERY tough case, but one that can be won in the right circumstances. The problem is that an infection is a known and accepted risk to having surgery, so the only way you would be able to receover in a suit is if you somehow showed that the provider unreasonably exposed you to a risk of infection beyond that which normally takes place.