An Illinois woman is suing her doctor for “wrongful pregnancy,” claiming a botched tubal ligation led to the birth of a daughter with sickle cell disease.
Cynthia Williams, a 40-year-old mother of three, only had one ovary and believed she couldn’t get pregnant because the tube tethering it to her womb had been tied –- or so she thought.
“I was livid,” Williams said, recalling the “impossible” blue line on the pregnancy test, quickly confirmed by the flutter of a heartbeat on a sonogram. “I just lost it.”
Williams was 12 years old when she lost her right ovary to a cyst. On the same day, she discovered that she carried the sickle cell trait -– a genetic abnormality that could cause a dangerous blood disorder in her kids.
The man Williams later married found out that he, too, carried the trait after the couple’s second son was born with sickle cell disease.
“That’s when we decided not to have more children,” said Williams, who four years later became pregnant while using the rhythm method of birth control. There was a 25 percent chance that the baby would have sickle cell disease, so the Williams’ were relieved when she was born a carrier instead.
Williams started taking the birth control pill, but high blood pressure pushed her to find a more permanent option.
Source: Good Morning America | KATIE MOISSE
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