Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in Malta : new legal challenges within the realm of medical liability

Abstract

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is a rapidly evolving area of medicine within the field of medically assisted procreation which provides prospective parents with information about their expected child to avoid having a child with a genetic abnormality, especially when one or both parents are carriers to a monogenic condition themselves. As a result, courts have been called upon to adjudicate a wide range of conflicts emerging from reproductive genetics one of which being the liability of a medical professional working within the field of genetic testing. Medical liability ensues when a medial professional behaves in a manner that is below the standard of care expected from him, causing his patients an injury or harm, which he is required to compensate. When cases of medical malpractice end up before the Courts of Justice, their outcome is greatly dependent upon the facts of each case. Internationally, an area of tort law which has originated from such practises is commonly referred to as prenatal tort, in which the child or parents themselves allege that had it not been for the negligence of the medical practitioner their child would not have been born in a world full of pain and suffering. Therefore, claims of this nature give rise to a range of ethical and legal conflicts, which have yet to be faced by Maltese Courts.