• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Drug Delivery Business

  • Clinical Trials
  • Research & Development
  • Drug-Device Combinations
  • FDA
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Policy

Federal judge dismisses faulty birth control suit against Merck

August 25, 2017 By Sarah Faulkner

MerckA Maine federal judge tossed out a woman’s lawsuit against Merck (NYSE:MRK), after she claimed that the company’s Nexplanon birth control implant allegedly failed to keep her from becoming pregnant.

Kayla Doherty filed the suit in April 2015, seeking damages related to the costs of raising a child as a single mother and costs related to her pregnancy. But Merck pointed to Maine’s Wrongful Birth Statute, which blocks damages arising from the birth of a healthy child.

The statute does make an exception for damages relating to pregnancy costs following a failed sterilization, but no exception is made for faulty birth control.

Doherty argued that the statute was unconstitutional, saying that it blocked her access to the courts and to a trial by jury, as well as violating her right to due process.

U.S. District Judge Brock Hornby, after contacting the state’s Supreme Judicial Court to clarify the law’s interpretation, concluded that the law was not unconstitutional and that Doherty’s lawsuit violated the Wrongful Birth Statute.

“There can be no constitutional claim regarding denial of court access unless the plaintiff has a viable underlying cause of action,” Hornby wrote, according to Law360. “Since…Doherty has no underlying cause of action, her federal constitutional right of access to courts has not been violated.”

The judge added that Doherty’s 14th amendment due process rights were not violated, since the law did not interfere with her medical care.

Hornby also said that the distinction between faulty birth control and a failed sterilization was allowed, since lawmakers could have a valid reason for making such a distinction.

In her original argument, Doherty claimed the law disproportionately targeted women. But Hornby took issue with that claim, too, writing that the law applies to parents of any gender.

‘I interpret [the law’s] reference to ‘birth’…as referring not to the delivery of the child that ends pregnancy, but to the beginning of the healthy child’s existence physically separate from the womb,” Hornby wrote. “Undoubtedly many mothers and fathers take different roles in the raising of a child, but the statute does not distinguish between them.”

See the best minds in medtech live at DeviceTalks Boston on Oct. 2. 

Filed Under: Drug-Device Combinations, Featured, Implants, Legal News, Pharmaceuticals, Wall Street Beat, Women's Health Tagged With: Merck

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

  • Abbott could pave new roads in diabetes management with dual sensor on the horizon
  • Tandem Diabetes Care pairs t:slim X2 pump with Abbott FreeStyle Libre 3 Plus in U.S.
  • Ypsomed, CamDiab to integrate Abbott dual glucose-ketone sensor into automated insulin delivery system
  • PharmaSens, SiBionics collab on all-in-one insulin patch pump
  • Beta Bionics to pair iLet automated insulin delivery system with Abbott’s dual glucose-ketone sensor

Primary Sidebar

“ddb
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest news and trends happening now in drug delivery.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.

Footer

Drug Delivery Business News Logo

MassDevice Medical NETWORK

MassDevice
DeviceTalks
Medical Tubing + Extrusion
Medical Design & Outsourcing
MedTech100 Index
Drug Discovery & Development
Pharmaceutical Processing World
Medical Design Sourcing
R&D World

DRUG DELIVERY BUSINESS NEWS

Subscribe to Drug Delivery’s E-Newsletter
Advertise with us
About
Contact us
Privacy
Listen to our Weekly Podcasts

Copyright © 2025 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy | RSS