The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Ritchie v. United States is uncommonly tragic. Military personnel forced pregnant soldier January Ritchie to exert herself against her doctor’s orders, thereby inducing premature labor and causing her baby, Gregory, to die shortly after birth.
The court reluctantly rejected Gregory’s estate’s wrongful-death claim in its October ruling. The court said its hands were tied by its cases interpreting the U.S. Supreme Court’s Feres rule, which immunizes the government from tort actions that implicate the working relationships of soldiers and their superior officers.
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