Couple sues over alleged medical malpractice leading to unintended pregnancy
Key Takeaways
A couple who already had three kids decided that a vasectomy would be the best option for their family. Four years after the procedure, they found out they were pregnant with their fourth child.
The family is now suing the practice that performed the vasectomy for medical malpractice damages, including the cost of raising a child. The concept of “wrongful conception” differs state by state.
Experts say that vasectomies aren’t 100% effective. Sperm can even slip through years after the fact due to the tubes regrowing, for example.
If you paid for a vasectomy and your wife then ended up pregnant 4 years later, would you sue the practice that performed the procedure for ‘wrongful conception’? One Minnesota couple, the Szlachtowskis, did just that.[]
It was 2018 when Steven Szlachtowski, then 38, had a vasectomy at Minnesota Urology, the “largest urology specialty group in the upper midwest,” according to its website.[] After having three kids under the age of five, the Szlachtowskis decided that a vasectomy was the best option for their family. In 2023, however, Steven’s wife, Megan, then 33, found out that she was pregnant—a total surprise given the procedure he had undergone in 2018.[]
The argument
The couple allege that the practice “committed medical malpractice and that it led to the unplanned pregnancy after a triage nurse told Steven his post-vasectomy semen sample was negative when it was, in fact, positive,” according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.[]
Understanding the case
Here’s what happened: Many months after the procedure, Steven Szlachtowski provided the practice with a semen sample—a typical part of vasectomy follow-up care.[] A nurse (who has since passed away) told Steven that his semen sample was negative that he could discontinue contraceptives.[] The results, however, were actually positive—something the practice doesn’t deny.
When the Szlachtowskis discovered their fourth pregnancy, Steven returned to Minnesota Urology to test his semen again, only to discover that his semen sample was positive for sperm.
The Szlachtowskis are seeking damages related to the birth, including physical pain, emotional distress, lost economic opportunities, and the cost of raising the child.
The lawyer representing Minnesota Urology, Richard Thomas, said that he hasn’t seen a case like this go to trial before, as the legal argument of ‘wrongful conception’ isn’t universally agreed upon in the United States.
The Supreme Court codified ‘wrongful conception’ in Minnesota in 1977 over a case involving a failed sterilization procedure, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported.
Past settlement
On the flip side, a Virginia woman became pregnant after her husband was given inaccurate information following two post-vasectomy semen analyses.[] In Virginia, a plaintiff in a ‘wrongful conception’ case can’t sue for the costs of raising a child. Rather, they can sue for medical expenses related to the pregnancy and for pain and suffering. This particular family was awarded a settlement of $250,000.
Wrongful conception
The discussion around wrongful conception has long been a complex one. According to Justia Law, courtrooms have questioned whether the financial burden of having an unwanted child could be offset by the benefits—the joy, affection, and satisfaction of raising that child.[]
Philip Werthman, MD, a board-certified urologist and the director of the Center for Male Reproductive Medicine and Vasectomy Reversal in Los Angeles, CA, says that vasectomies are highly successful—with a failure rate of fewer than 1 in 1,000 procedures. But here’s what patients should know: When you have a vasectomy, the tubes that carry sperm—referred to as the vas deferens—are blocked. This means that sperm may still live upstream, as the block is made closer to the testicle. This is why testing is key.
"It takes roughly 6 weeks to make the sperm die off. I always recommend a second semen analysis."
— Philip Werthman, MD
“If you test negative for sperm on that one particular day ... maybe there wasn't any sperm in that drop, but in the rest of the ejaculate, there could have been a small amount of live sperm. It’s not common, but it happens,” he says. Rarely, the vas deferens will reattach themselves on their own over time, allowing sperm to get through, Dr. Werthman adds.
Before Dr. Werthman was a doctor, he shares, a friend of his told him that she’d gotten pregnant despite her husband’s vasectomy. Confused and shocked, the man had his sperm tested. Curiously, the test results were negative, leading to the assumption of infidelity. Still, his friend protested; she hadn’t cheated on her husband.
A paternity test later confirmed that the child was his. So what happened? “How is it that someone with zero sperm count could get his wife pregnant? There is a concept of intermittent sperm flow through the vas: a recanalization, or small connection that grows around the area of the vasectomy. The body's natural position is to get back to normal,” Dr. Werthman explains.
“One sneaks by the goalie, so to speak. The right sperm got into the correct egg,” he says. Fortunately, this is not a situation most patients have to worry about.