Category Archives: Obstetrician law

DOCTORS AND THE SURROGATE MOTHER

How should physicians deal with contractually arranged pregnancies?
Physicians, particularly obstetricians, dealing with surrogate pregnancies have unique legal and practical issues to face when dealing with the contractual obligations of the surrogate mother.

Physicians are not lawyers and shouldn’t pretend to help the parties with the surrogate contract issues. However, they can help the parties understand the medical issues such contracts create.

Treat Surrogate Mother and the Fetus

According to the recommendations of a 2008 American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) committee opinion, a medical professional’s obligation is to care from the pregnant woman and the fetus.

“While caring for a surrogate mother it is the professional obligation of the obstetrician to support the well-being of the pregnant woman and her fetus, to support the pregnant woman’s goal for the pregnancy, and to provide appropriate care regardless of the patient’s plan to keep or relinquish the child. The obstetrician must make recommendations that are in the best interests of the pregnant woman and her fetus, regardless of prior agreements between her and the intended parents.”

This contrasts sharply with  California law since 1993 when the California Supreme Court approved surrogacy agreements for gestational surrogacy (Johnson v. Calvert). The court ruled that as between the genetic relationship of the woman who donated the egg, and the relationship of the surrogate, “she who intended to procreate the child-that is, she who intended to bring about the birth of a child that she intended to raise as her own-is the natural mother under California law.”

The parties who hired the surrogate should be the parents. By making this ruling, the Court signaled it’s intent to look at the intent of the parties to determine who was the parent.

How does the healthcare system respond to conflicts between the birth mom and the contracting parents? The ACOG Opinion requires the physician to support the goals of the pregnancy of the birth mother. The California Supreme Court (later codified), gives the mantel of parenthood to the parties who hired the surrogate. How does the doctor decide when the parties disagree?

California Case Demonstrates the Issues.

One California case demonstrates some of the issues (CM v. MC.) In the case, a 50-year old male postal worker who lived with his mother wanted a male child. Though a surrogacy agency, he contracted with a 47-year old women to carry his surrogate baby. The intended father and the surrogate mother never met. Through the broker, a 75-page agreement was signed. The agreement provided that the mother would receive $27,000, with a $6,000 bonus in the case of multiple pregnancies, that the woman would become impregnated by implantation of donor eggs fertilized by the postal worker’s sperm, and that the intended father would pay medical bills and insurance for the surrogate during the pregnancy. The agreement further provided that the intended father wanted a male child and that in the event of a multiple pregnancy, the intended father had the right to require “selective reduction” of the pregnancy.

The surrogate mother became impregnated by implantation, resulting in a pregnancy of three males. The surrogate mother either did not read or did not understand the agreement she signed. The agreement allowed the intended father to make a decision about selective reduction if there was a multiple pregnancy. The surrogate mother, however, did not believe in abortion. When the father instructed that she reduce the pregnancy, because he was running out of money and could not handle triplets, the surrogate mother refused. Litigation resulted. The end result was that the triplets were born and the intended father got custody.

Guidelines for Treating Surrogate Mothers

The following is a list of guidelines for caring for surrogate mothers.

First a warning: there is little legal guidance for many of these guidelines and there has been too little discussion about the legal obligations of the physician in these situations.
Get a copy of the Surrogacy Contract.

The purpose of obtaining this agreement is not to give legal advice or to make decisions based upon the agreement. Rather, knowledge of the agreement can give the obstetrician important information about the medical choices made by the parties. Some of them include:

a. HIPAA Waiver. Surrogate contracts usually give the intended parents the right to information about the pregnancy. This should be reviewed by compliance professionals. If it’s not sufficient, the practices’ HIPAA waiver should be offered to the surrogate so that the intended parents can receive information and possibly attend in office appointments.

b. Surrogate Mother’s Behavior During the Pregnancy. Standard contracts provide for behavior of the surrogate mother during the pregnancy, including diet, abstention from tobacco, achohol, drugs, etc., the utilization of vitamins, exercise, and frequency of visits to the physician. Agreements may even require treatment of the child before birth, like reading to the child, or music, or birth methods, etc.

c. Decision Points During the Pregnancy. The physician can take note of the obligations of the surrogate to make certain decisions, such as DNA testing, or selective reduction as described in the case above.

Note that there is some risk in obtaining the Surrogacy Contract:  By having knowledge of the terms of the agreement, a slighted party may try to sue the physician for a tort called “interference with contract.”  This would be an allegation that the physician intentionally attempted to get the surrogate to breach the contract.  There is no known case in the country for this cause of action at this time.

Follow The Instructions of the Surrogate Mother.

As the pregnancy unfolds, the ideal situation would be when the surrogate mother and the intended parents visit the physicians’ offices together, and they make joint decisions as the pregnancy proceeds. However, if there should be conflict, or if the physician is faced with a situation where the surrogate mother is not following the surrogacy contract, the physician should follow instructions of the surrogate mother unless and until the surrogate parents obtain a court order. The physician should stay out of any legal dispute.

Inform Intended Parents.

As long as the surrogate mother has allowed the intended parents access to medical information, and as long as such waiver of privacy is not terminated by the surrogate mother, the physician should share information about the pregnancy with the intended parents. If such privacy waiver is revoked, the physician should inform the intended parents of such revocation, and stop sharing information without a court order.

 Absentee Intended Parents.

Often, the intended parents are absent until the birth. In such cases, the physician should only follow the surrogates instructions during the pregnancy.
 After Birth Issues.

Generally, surrogate contracts allow intended parents to go into court and get an order of custody at the time of birth. If such an order exists, the intended parents would usually have the right to make all decisions regarding children born to surrogate parents. Without such order, the surrogate mother’s instructions should be followed.

This article is meant as guidelines in an area of law that has no real guidelines. Suggestions or different experiences are welcomed.

By Matt Kinley, Esq.  Founder of Kinley Law Practice.

Matt Kinley speaks to Obstetricians About Surrogacy Law

Matt Kinley, founder Kinley Law Practice, and Health Care attorney,  speaks to obstetricians about surrogacy law.

Informing physicians about dealing with surrogacy laws, attorney Kinley has developed a program to help obstetricians and other physicians to respond to concerns of surrogate parents and intended parents involved in surrogate contracts to deliver babies.

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A VALID SURROGACY PARENTAGE CONTRACT IN CALIFORNIA

This is a two part series for physicians on some of the issues that arise with the medical treatment of surrogate mothers.  This first article deals with the surrogacy contract. 

California Family Code Section 7962 provides:

“The surrogate, her spouse, or partner is not a parent of, and has no parental rights or duties with respect to, the child or children.”

Adding an additional layer to the twenty-first century notion of the family, several children are born not from their mother, but from a third party surrogate. In California, couples seeking children with some genetic connection may use these contracts to pay a surrogate mother to carry the baby through pregnancy.

What is required for a legal contract? The California Supreme Court, in the 1993 decision of Johnson v. Calvert, held that such arrangements are permissible and that the intended mother — and not the surrogate — should be deemed a child’s mother. As of January 1, 2013, California law (AB1217) added to the Family Code the Uniform Parentage Act, cited as Family Code section 7962, which codified California’s acceptance of such contracts.

Physicians, particularly obstetricians, dealing with surrogacy pregnancies have unique legal and practical issues to face when dealing with the relationships between the intended parents and the gestational mother. These relationships are governed by a contract which is defined by the Uniform Parentage Act. Presenting a valid surrogacy agreement to the court rebuts any presumptions that the surrogate and her spouse are the legal parents of the child or children.

For a surrogacy contract to be valid under the statute, the contract must have the following information:

1. The date the contract was executed;

 
2. The names of the persons from which the gametes [ova and sperm] originated, unless anonymously donated;

3. The name(s) of the intended parent(s); and

4. A disclosure of how the medical expenses of the surrogate and the pregnancy will be handled, including a review of applicable health insurance coverage and what liabilities, if any, that may fall on the surrogate.

Additional requirements are that the agreement must be entered into before any embryo transfer begins; both the intended parent(s) and the surrogate must be represented by separate, independent counsel before executing the agreement; and the agreement must be signed and notarized.

The statute also establishes that, upon proof of a valid surrogacy agreement, the court will terminate the parental rights of the surrogate and her spouse “without further hearing or evidence, unless the court or a party to the assisted reproduction agreement for gestational carriers has a good faith, reasonable belief” that the agreement or accompanying attorney declarations were not executed in accordance with § 7962.  Surrogacy contracts will be deemed “presumptively valid” and cannot be rescinded or revoked without a court order.

The statute places no conditions on who can serve as a surrogate (beyond requiring that she not be genetically related to the fetuses) or who may solicit the services of a gestational carrier. No minimum levels of income, intelligence, age, or ability are required for either the surrogate or the intended parent(s).) The statute does not require that the intended parents shoulder all costs associated with surrogacy, and only states that the financial accommodations necessary for the arrangement are to be detailed in the surrogacy contract.

Note that these principles do not apply to “traditional surrogacy.” In a traditional surrogacy, the woman carrying the child is also the genetic mother – as a general rule, she conceives through artificial insemination with the intended father’s sperm, but using her own egg.  The law on traditional surrogacy in California remains very unclear, and it is possible that the “traditional surrogate” will be the legal mother and that one or both of the intended parents will end up having to adopt the child.

This is demonstrated in the case of In re Marriage of Moschetta (1994) 25 Cal.App.4th 1218. In that case, Robert Moschetta and Cynthia Moschetta wanted to have a child.  Cynthia was sterile.  Elvira Jordan agreed to be inseminated with Robert’s sperm, and to carry the baby to term for them.  Pursuant to the agreement, Elvira was to allow Robert sole custody, and was to consent to adoption of the child by Cynthia.  However, when the Moschettas broke up during her pregnancy, Elvira decided to keep the baby, although when the couple reconciled she relented and allowed the baby to go home with them.  Seven months later, the Moschetta’s broke up for good.  Cynthia petitioned the court, arguing that Cynthia was the baby’s legal mother, not Elvira, based on the terms of the surrogacy contract and the fact that the baby had lived with Cynthia for most of its short life.  In this case, the court held the Johnson v. Calvert did not apply, since Elvira was both the genetic and the gestational mother.  Enforcing a prebirth contract to give up one’s baby would go against the public policies relating to parentage and adoption.  Legally, Elvira was the mother and Robert was the father.

Finally, additional to as what is required, the agreement should deal with issues such as an agreement as to how the gestational mother will care for herself during the pregnancy, issues related to how the a pregnancy with multiple embryos will be dealt with, genetic testing and consequences as to deal with negative genetic tests, the sex of the child, and the surrogate mother’s conduct after birth.

By Matt Kinley, Esq., founder Kinley Law Practice.