A Colombian doctor has been ordered by a court of law to financially support a patient’s baby until it turns 18 after the patient ended up conceiving the baby despite undergoing a vasectomy.

Diego Naranjo, a doctor from Medellin, Colombia, will have to pay millions of pesos to support one of his patients’ baby after he assured the man that the vasectomy he had performed had been successful and he no longer needed to use other means of contraception. However, the man ended up leaving his wife pregnant and having an unplanned baby. Subsequent sperm tests showed that the vasectomy had in fact not been successful, and the parents of the baby sued the doctor, claiming that his mistake had had serious implications, both financial and emotional. A judge has now ruled that the doctor must support the baby until it turns 18 years old.

Photo: Jill Sauve/Unsplash

“As a result of this unexpected conclusion, the patient was not recommended to continue using contraceptive methods to avoid the risk of pregnancy,” the recent court ruling read. “When it was proven that the parents did not want to procreate more children, it was concluded that there was an impact on their life projects that had repercussions in the immaterial field, especially considering the precarious economic situation of the father, who currently cannot work due to their health problems.”

The baby’s father suffers from a debilitating condition called severe bilateral hearing loss, which prevents him from working. He experiences frequent dizziness and vomiting and must wear a hearing aid in order to hear properly. The condition prevented the man from finding employment, so the judge ruled that the doctor responsible for the conception of the baby must be held responsible.

 

According to the recent court ruling, Dr. Naranjo will have to pay the patient’s family 80 current minimum wages, or 92 million pesos ($20,300) in moral damages, 60 million pesos ($13,200) in legal fees, and 143 million pesos ($31,500) as child support.

Interestingly, the botched vasectomy was performed in 2012, and the patient’s baby, a girl, was born the following year. She is currently 10 years old, so the doctor only has eight more years of financial support. It’s unclear why the parents took so long to take legal action against the doctor.