Posted on 24 Sep 2025

Wrongful Birth Claims in Australia: Eligibility, Compensation & Your Legal Options

This isn’t about blame — it's about support

A wrongful birth claim is not a judgment on your child or the decisions you made during pregnancy. It's a legal pathway to access financial support for the care and resources your family may need.

Who may have a wrongful birth claim?

You may be eligible for a wrongful birth claim if medical negligence during pregnancy care, diagnosis, or treatment led to an unplanned pregnancy or prevented you from making an informed decision about the pregnancy.

This might include things like a failed sterilisation, incorrect contraceptive advice, or a missed diagnosis during pregnancy.

Speak with a wrongful birth lawyer in confidence

If you’re unsure whether you have a claim, a short conversation can help clarify your options and what support may be available for your family.

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What types of compensation can I claim?

Depending on the circumstances of your case, your wrongful birth compensation may include:

Lost income: If your injury or circumstances prevent you from working.
Medical expenses: For your own treatment or your child’s care related to their disability, including travel costs between medical appointments.
Special education costs: If your child requires additional support or specialised programs.
Equipment, aids and therapy: This includes mobility devices, hearing aids, and other support tools, as well as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, or psychological support.
General living costs: Food, utilities, or household expenses associated with your child’s needs.
Home modifications: Ramps, widened doorways, or bathroom adaptations to accommodate your child’s needs.
Respite care or support services: Help with daily care, respite, or specialised childcare.
Pain and suffering: Compensation for the emotional impact of the pregnancy and birth.

Compensation for raising a child is generally calculated up to age 18. However, the court may extend disability-related expenses or future care costs past adulthood on a case-by-case basis.

That’s why it’s so crucial to work with a lawyer experienced in wrongful birth claims. We have the expertise to successfully argue for an extended compensation period, ensuring your family is covered for the maximum period possible.

How does compensation work in a wrongful birth claim?

Compensation is a wrongful birth claim is based on the specific circumstances of the case, including the state you live in and whether your child is born with a disability.

Here’s a breakdown of how compensation works in different states:

In NSW, Queensland and South Australia your compensation depends on whether your child is born with or without a disability. These states tend to have stricter limitations on the types of compensation that can be claimed in wrongful birth cases, especially for children born without a disability.

If your child is born with a disability:

You may be entitled to compensation for the additional costs of raising a child with a disability, including medical costs, long-term care needs, home modifications, and lost income if you’ve needed time off work to care for your child.

If your child is born without a disability:

Your compensation is generally more limited and focuses on the costs directly related to pregnancy and childbirth.
You may also be able to claim for physical injury suffered during delivery, or for related mental health issues that might affect your ability to work or function normally.
The costs of raising a healthy child are typically not covered, even if the pregnancy was unwanted.

In WA, Victoria, the NT and the ACT, the compensation you can claim depends on whether your child is born with or without a disability.

If your child is born without a disability:

You can claim the costs of raising a healthy, unexpected child. This includes the general living costs associated with raising the child, as well as the costs of pregnancy, childbirth, and any physical or psychiatric injuries you develop as a result of the birth.
The claim is less focused on the immediate financial burden of the pregnancy and delivery and more on the lifelong financial impact of raising an unexpected child.

If your child is born with a disability:

You can claim compensation for a broad range of needs tied to your child’s disability, such as long-term care, medical expenses, home modifications, and lost income (if you require time off work).

If you’re unsure what compensation you can claim in your state, our specialists can investigate your case and provide advice on the types of support available — completely free of charge.

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Common examples of wrongful birth claims

Our lawyers have supported many families through wrongful birth claims. Some of the most frequent situations that can lead to a wrongful birth claim include:

Failed sterilisation procedures: Improperly performed vasectomies, tubal ligation, or sterilisation surgeries.
Inadequate follow-up care: Failure to conduct or interpret post-operative testing after sterilisation.
Negligent contraceptive advice: Including incorrect guidance on the risks of pregnancy.
Failure to diagnose pregnancy: Resulting in delayed options for lawful termination.
Genetic testing and counselling errors: Negligent testing, misinterpretation of results, or failure to provide accurate advice.
IVF mistakes: Such as embryo mix-ups or procedural errors.
Missed or delayed diagnosis of maternal conditions: Where the lack of advice prevented the option of lawful termination due to likely congenital disabilities or birth defects.
Other negligent medical advice or errors: Where parents lost the opportunity to make an informed decision about pregnancy.

If any of these situations sound familiar, you may have a wrongful birth claim. Even if you’re unsure, it’s always worth confirming whether you qualify in a free, confidential chat.

Request an independent clinical review

Medical records can be complex and difficult to interpret without specialist input. We can arrange a review with experienced obstetric and genetic specialists to help you better understand the care provided.

Request an independent record review

Next steps if you think this may apply to you

If you’re unsure whether you have a wrongful birth claim, the process usually starts with a few simple steps:

Understand what happened medically: This involves reviewing your pregnancy, diagnosis, treatment, or sterilisation/contraceptive care to identify whether any medical errors may have occurred.
Consider whether the situation could have been avoided: A key question is whether different or appropriate medical care may have changed the outcome or allowed for informed decision-making during pregnancy.
Explore what support may be available: If medical negligence is identified, you may be entitled to compensation to help with the ongoing costs of care, treatment, and support.
Get a clear assessment of your options: A short conversation with a specialist lawyer can help clarify whether you may have a claim and what the next steps would involve.

Cattanach v Melchior: A landmark wrongful birth claim in Australia

This High Court case involved a failed sterilisation procedure that resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. The parents sought compensation, including the cost of raising their child.

The Court accepted that, in certain circumstances, parents could recover the costs of raising a child following medical negligence. The decision was later restricted in some states, including NSW, Queensland and South Australia.

How we can help with your wrongful birth claim

For more than 25 years, our lawyers have supported parents through complex wrongful birth claims with empathy and expertise. When you work with us, we will:

Make sure you and your child get the right support and treatment from the start.
Guide you through every stage of the claims process and keep you updated so you’re never left in the dark.
Collect strong medical and legal evidence to prove negligence.
Handle negotiations with the insurer on your behalf.
Challenge decisions if your claim is denied or the compensation offered is too low.
Explore extra entitlements, such as nervous shock claims or Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) benefits, if they apply to you.
Secure compensation for the long-term financial and emotional impact of raising a child with a disability.
Work on a No Win No Fee basis, so you can get risk-free support and justice for your family. We cover all upfront fees, and if your claim is unsuccessful, you’ll never receive a bill from us.

Frequently asked questions

To succeed in a wrongful birth claim, you need to show that your medical professional was negligent. This involves proving four main things:

Duty of care: You’ll need to show that the other party owed you a duty of care. This means they had a legal responsibility to act for your safety and welfare. Doctors and other medical professionals automatically owe their patients this duty, so if you were treated by a registered medical professional, it’s likely they owed you this duty.
Breach of duty: You must show that your medical professional acted (or failed to act) in a way that fell below the standard expected of a competent professional in their field.
Causation: Your pregnancy or child’s condition must be the direct result of the medical professional’s breach of duty. You’ll also need to establish that the pregnancy or condition was a ‘reasonably foreseeable’ result of the doctor’s actions or inactions.
Injury and loss: You need to show you suffered injury or loss, such as medical bills, lost income, or pain and suffering.

When you work with Monaco, we’ll handle each of these steps for you, ensuring your wrongful birth claim is clear, compelling, and supported by strong medical evidence. To learn more about proving medical negligence, head to our detailed four-step guide.

Time limits apply to all wrongful birth claims, with the exact deadline depending on your state.

State	Time limit
NSW, VIC, SA	3 years after discovering the child’s birth or disability was the result of medical negligence.
QLD, WA	3 years from the date of the medical negligence.
ACT	For physical injuries, 3 years from the date of the medical negligence. For diseases or disorders, 3 years after: • Discovering the disease or disorder, and • That it was caused by your medical professional’s negligence.

If you’re outside this time limit, there are still options available — just get in touch with our wrongful birth lawyers immediately. Over the years, we’ve helped hundreds of parents and families get their delayed claims approved.

Australian courts have dealt with wrongful birth cases many times, and over the years, some clear limits have been set. It’s also worth remembering that the rules can differ between states, so what applies in one place may not apply the same way in another.

Here are three main situations where a wrongful birth claim usually won’t succeed.

1. If the pregnancy could not have been terminated

In Nouri v Australian Capital Territory, parents sued after a doctor failed to diagnose their child’s disability in time for them to consider termination.

The ACT Supreme Court accepted the doctor had been negligent in delaying the diagnosis, but found the earliest realistic point for diagnosis was around 30 weeks — well past the stage where a lawful abortion could reasonably have been obtained.

In other words, even if they’d been told earlier, the parents probably wouldn’t have had access to a termination, so the claim failed.

2. If the child is healthy (in many states)

As discussed, in NSW, Queensland and South Australia, parents can no longer claim the ordinary costs of raising a healthy child after a failed sterilisation or negligent medical advice.

3. If no medical negligence was involved

Wrongful birth claims are based on a medical professional making a mistake, acting carelessly or otherwise providing poor treatment. This is known as ‘medical negligence’.

This means that if a pregnancy happens despite proper medical care, or if no advice or treatment was ever sought, there’s usually no basis for a wrongful birth claim. You can read more about proving medical negligence below.

It’s important to understand the distinction between wrongful birth and wrongful life claims.

In a wrongful birth claim, it’s the parents who seek compensation for the impact of an unplanned pregnancy or the birth of a child with a disability.

A wrongful life claim is different. Here, the claim would be made by (or on behalf of) the child, arguing that medical negligence caused them to be born with a disability that could have been avoided. For example, if the parents had been properly warned or if the pregnancy had been terminated. The argument isn’t that life itself is ‘wrong’, but that the child’s disability is the result of a medical failure.

Two landmark High Court cases that dealt with wrongful life happened in 2006:

Harriton v Stephens: Where a child was born with disabilities after the mother contracted rubella.
Waller v James: Where a child was born with a genetic condition (Anti-thrombin 3 deficiency).

In both wrongful life cases, the High Court held that a child cannot sue simply for being born, even with a disability. This is because it isn’t possible to meaningfully compare life with a disability to non-existence.

What does this mean for me?

As a parent, this means you can only claim damages for wrongful birth. You cannot bring a wrongful life lawsuit on behalf of your child, and your child can’t make one themselves — no matter the circumstances. If you’re considering legal action, your case would focus on the impact on you as the parent, not on the child bringing a claim themselves.