Judges dismiss injury in the womb claims
Posted: December 31, 2014
Posted in: Birth Injury Criminal Injury and Assault Personal Injury
UK judges have dismissed claims concerning people injured in the womb under a program for the innocent victims of crime, arguing that the victims are not considered “persons” under the law while in the womb. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has criticized the ruling as defying all reason.
The ruling followed a claim made by one affected claimant, however a further 80 children awaited the result from the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority, having also been affected by fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). It was ruled that compensation could not be granted as the poisoning occurred when the individuals were not yet considered “persons” under the law.
“Cruel judgement”
It was highlighted in court that this ruling contradicted a recent ruling made by the same judges, after they enforced a manslaughter charge on a mother after a baby was injured in the womb, and subsequently killed. The judges, however, maintained that the initial assault and subsequent death formed a “single contiguous act that spanned the victim’s legal non-personhood before birth and legal personhood afterwards”.
The SPUC’s general secretary, Paul Tully, said: “This cruel judgment not only leaves disabled children without just recompense, it flies in the face of common knowledge about when life begins and – it is anti-rational”. Mr Tully described English Law as being “in denial”.
If you have suffered injury as a victim of crime, and are looking to claim compensation, please contact us.
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