The middle-aged couple is seeking general damages and child-rearing costs to help raise a child conceived after the woman underwent the procedure in February 1999. They allege that their doctor did not use proper surgical techniques or discuss with them the procedure's failure rate. The obstetrician/gynecologist named in the suit performed the operation after delivering the couple's third child.

In their statement of claim, the husband and wife say they have suffered emotional stress as a result of the failed procedure and cannot afford to raise the unplanned child, who was born last summer.

Dr. Guylaine Lefebvre, chair of the clinical practice committee for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, says failed tubal ligations are a recurrent theme in malpractice complaints, but the couple's lawyer, Martin Pollock, thinks the case is the first of its kind in Manitoba. He says the "door was left open" because of a similar suit in British Columbia, which was overturned after it was shown the couple could afford to raise a child born after a failed tubal ligation.

In his statement of defence, the physician named in the suit says the woman was advised of all special, material and unusual risks, including the risk that she might become pregnant after surgery. — Greg Basky, Saskatoon

Copyright 2001 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors