On Nov. 14, 2012, in Sernovitz v. Dershaw, 2012 Pa. Super. 248 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2012), the Pennsylvania Superior Court held that 42 Pa.S.C.A. § 8305, which prohibited the tort claims of wrongful birth and wrongful life, was unconstitutional because the manner in which the bill was enacted violated Article III, Section 3 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Specifically, the Superior Court held that Section 8305 violated the single-subject rule, which requires that a bill address a single subject that is clearly expressed in its title.
The claims raised in Sernovitz are classic wrongful-birth and wrongful-life claims. Rebecca Sernovitz sought prenatal care in early 2008 and underwent genetic testing because both Rebecca and Lawrence Sernovitz were of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. The Sernovitzes claim that Rebecca Sernovitz’s testing revealed her to be a carrier of familial dysautonomia (FD), but she was erroneously informed that all of her tests were negative, according to the opinion. Samuel Sernovitz was born in September 2008 and was diagnosed with FD shortly thereafter. FD is an autosomal recessive disorder, which can only occur in a child if both parents are carriers of the genetic mutation.
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