ALBANY— Two couples that gave birth to children with a genetic defect later traced back to donated eggs are suing a New York fertility doctor and his clinic.

The state Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case on Wednesday. A decision is expected next year.

The two children have Fragile X, a genetic syndrome that causes intellectual impairments.

The case hinges on the state's medical malpractice statute of limitations, which gives plaintiffs two and a half years to sue after what they consider an act of malpractice. The parents filed the lawsuits two years after the children were born, seeking monetary damages.

Attorneys for the Reproductive Medicine Associates clinic and physician Alan Copperman argue the clock on the statute of limitations began counting down when they ended fertility treatment, not when the children were born.