Parents Settle Over Failure to Diagnose In Utero Down Syndrome

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Southland couple that sued their doctors for allegedly failing to inform them of their in utero daughter's Down syndrome in time for an abortion, settled their lawsuit Friday.

In the court papers, the couple said they would have aborted the wife's fetus had they known she would be born with Down Syndrome. The allege their doctors did not competently performed tests showing their daughter would be born with Down syndrome. As a result, their daughter was born in 2014 with Down syndrome associated with congenital heart disease that required surgery shortly after her birth. The couple reached a settlement with two medical groups and three physicians, court papers obtained Friday show.

The terms of the settlement were not divulged in papers filed Thursday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victor Chavez.

The couple filed the wrongful birth/wrongful life case in June 2015 against Axminster Medical Group Inc., Westchester Advanced Imaging Medical Group Inc. and Drs. Glenn P. Wedeen, Christopher Meilleur and Mia J. Sanders Madati. The Mays had sought about $80 million.

The mother received her obstetrical care from Axminster Medical and was seen by Sanders Madati and Meilleur, according to Axminster Medical Group's court papers.

Wedeen performed a second-semester ultrasound on the woman in June 2014 at Meilleur's request, according to court papers filed by attorneys for Wedeen and Westchester Advanced Imaging. The couple alleged the girl's Down syndrome should have been diagnosed in utero, allowing the couple to abort before birth.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.