A woman with spina bifida has filed suit against her mother’s former doctor seeking millions of dollars to cover health care costs, arguing that she should never have been born.
Evie Toombes, a 20-year-old equestrian show jumper from Lincolnshire, England, is suing general practitioner Dr. Philip Mitchell, for “wrongful conception,” according to The Telegraph. Toombes says the doctor allegedly “failed to advise her mother to take folic acid supplements before getting pregnant that she claims resulted in her birth defect,” the New York Post reported.
The young woman was diagnosed with lipomyelomeningocele immediately after her birth in November 2001. The condition means there is a defect in the neural tube that runs to the spine and her bones never properly developed, causing a permanent disability.
“She claims that her mother never would have had her if her doctor had informed her that she needed to take folic acid supplements to minimize the chances of the defect affecting her baby,” the Post reported.
Her attorney, Susan Rodway, argued in the U.K. High Court that Toombes is suing for “having been born in a damaged state.” She wants millions of dollars to pay for the cost of living with her debilitating condition.
The doctor has responded, saying he gave the woman’s mother, Caroline Toombes, “reasonable advice,” but the Post said “it is common practice to advise potential mothers to take the supplement before conceiving and through the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.”
Toombes’ lawyer said if Caroline Toombs had been so advised by Mitchell, she would have put off having a child.
“It is her evidence she would have read up on it and wouldn’t have attempted to become pregnant until she was satisfied that she had protected herself as much as possible,” Rodway said, according to The Telegraph.
“The court heard that 50-year-old Caroline Toombes – who is also a keen horsewoman – went to see Dr. Mitchell to discuss her plans to have a first baby in February 2001,” the Daily Mail reported.
“This was a very precious decision to start a family, because she herself had lost her parents when she was young,” Rodway told the judge, according to the Mail. “They had been refraining from sexual intercourse until after they had received advice at this consultation.”
While Toombes can now ride horses and hopes to compete in the Paralympics one day, she is sometimes hooked up to machines and medical tubes for 24 hours a day. “As she grows older she will be bound more frequently to a wheelchair. She also suffers from bowel and bladder issues as a result of her condition,” said the Post.
On her website, Toombes describes her motto in life as, “Find a way, not an excuse.”
“I was born with a form of Spina Bifida, which affects the nerves to my legs, bladder and bowel, but having a passion in life gives me purpose and direction,” she writes.
In 2018, she met the Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle after winning the Inspirational Young Person Award at a charity event.