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In a landmark verdict at London’s High Court on Wednesday, a 20-year-old woman won millions in damages in a lawsuit of ‘wrongful conception’ where she had sued her mother's doctor for giving wrong advice during the pregnancy.

Twenty-year-old Evie Toombes, who suffers from spina bifida (a spinal condition), had claimed in her suit that she should never have been born and her mother’s pregnancy was a ‘wrongful conception.’

Judge Rosalind Coe QC agreed with Toombes and observed that if the right advice had been given, Toombes’ mother would have delayed attempts to conceive and a genetically different (normal) child would have been born later.

The UK court, therefore, awarded a big compensation to Toombes that would cover the cost of her extensive lifelong medical needs, however, the exact amount of the payout has not been calculated yet, the ET reported.

This judgment is being considered as ground-breaking as it means that healthcare professionals can be held responsible for giving misleading pre-conceptive advice which later results in the birth of a child with a serious health issue.

In her lawsuit filed in November 2021, Toombes had claimed that if her mother's doctor, Dr. Philip Mitchell, had told her mother to take folic acid supplements to reduce the likelihood of the risk of spina bifida impacting the baby, her pregnancy would have been delayed and Toombes would not have been born.

Toombes was born in November 2001 with a deformed spine and spinal cord and the spine has gaps due to stunted development due to which Toombes sometimes spends 24 hours a day connected to tubes.

Toombes has been diagnosed with a lipomylomeningocoele (LMM), which can lead to permanent disability and it is probable that Toombes will be more dependent on a wheelchair as she grows older.