Parents of girl with Down syndrome sue ultrasound clinic over lost earnings

Parents of a young girl with Down syndrome want an ultrasound clinic which failed to spot it before she was born to pay for the costs of bringing her up.

The mother and father went to the Australian clinic in August 2014, AAP reports, for a scan to check if their then-unborn child had any genetic abnormalities. None showed up, and the couple were told the risk was low so they shouldn't bother undergoing more scans - but when the girl was born in early 2015, she had Down syndrome.

Also known as trisomy 21, Down syndrome is the presence of an extra chromosome. It results in intellectual disability and distinctive facial characteristics, and happens in one in every 1000 births - the younger the mother, the less likely it is to occur.

The parents are suing the unnamed clinic over "wrongful birth" and personal injury, AAP reported. They want the clinic to bear the costs of bringing up the child, which they say would have been terminated had they known she had Down syndrome, and their own loss of future earnings, due to the time and effort spent raising her.

The case was revealed in a Supreme Court judgement on Friday, giving the couple more time to prepare their case.

Newshub.