A doctor has been ordered to pay child support to a couple after a vasectomy he performed on the father didn’t work.
After a years-long legal battle, the Superior Court of Medellin in Colombia has ruled that the doctor who performed the surgery must pay child support at the rate of minimum wage until the child turns 18. As the child is now aged 10, over the next eight years, it will total 295 million Colombian pesos (approximately $A98,000).
The unnamed father decided to have a vasectomy in 2012 because he and his wife, who already had two children, didn’t have enough income to support any more.
The man also suffers severe bilateral hearing loss, making it difficult for him to work adding to the family’s economic difficulties.
Following the procedure, the man returned to the clinic for an examination to make sure the vasectomy had been a success. He was assured it was.
However, the following year, his wife became pregnant, with their daughter born on October 1, 2013.
Four years later, in 2017, the couple decided to take the doctor and the clinic to court, claiming the botched surgery had caused them financial and emotional distress.
Ruling in their favour, the court finding said that the failure of the surgery had left a lasting impact on the family’s life.
“When it was proved that the parents did not want to [have] 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 ruling said, Daily Mail reports.
In his first ruling on the matter back in December, the judge also said that the botched vasectomy not only caused “harm in the exercise of sexuality and reproductive freedom” of the couple, but “considerably affected the economy of the family nucleus”.
“It has generated worries and afflictions for the plaintiffs, since they have no way to meet the basic needs of the minor,” the judge said.
Vasectomies are minor surgical procedures to prevent pregnancy – and are generally very effective. Only around one in 1000 fail. Failure can happen for a variety of reasons including surgeon error, not waiting long enough after surgery to have unprotected sex, or, in rare cases, the vas deferens tube can regrow.