UNBORN CHILD. Where a woman was injured during pregnancy by a highway colli sion, she was held entitled to damages for mental distress due, before the birth of the child, to her fear that it would be deformed, but not for mental suffering after the birth caused by its then deformity; Prescott v. Robinson, 74 N. H. 460, 69 AU. 522, 17 L. R. A. (N. S.) 594, 124 Am. St. Rep. 987.
A child cannot bring an action for damag es caused by the negligent act of a carrier before its birth; 26 L. R. Ir. 69; Nugent v. R. Co., 154 App. Div. 667, 139 N. Y. Supp. 367. Where a pregnant woman was injured by negligence of the employ6s of a hospital to which she went for her confinement, and this caused permanent deformity of the child, it was held that the child had no right of action; Allaire v. St. Luke's Hospital, 184 Ill. 359, 56 N. E. 638, 48 L. R. A. 225, 75 Am. St. Rep. 176. A woman four or five months advanced in pregnancy fell by rea son of a defect in the highway and had a miscarriage ; the child was alive when de livered, but died before it was severed from its mother. It was held that no right of ac
tion accrued to the administrator of the child; Dietrich v. Northampton, 138 Mass, 14, 52 Am. Rep. 242. In Gorman v. Budlong,. 23 R. I. 169, 49 Atl. 704, 55 L. R. A. 118, 91 Am. St. Rep. 629, and Nugent v. R. Co., 154 App. Div. 667, 139 N. Y. Supp. 367, where the premature birth of the child was caused by injury to its mother before its birth, the child living only a short time, it was held that there could be no right of recovery for death by wrongful act; and so in Buel v. Rys. Co., 248 Mo. 126, 154 S. W. 71, 45 L. R. A. (N. S.) 625, where the injury was caus ed to the unborn child which ultimately caus ed its death before delivery. Where the fa ther of an unborn child was killed in a rail road accident, the child could recover ; Hern don v. R. Co., 37 Okl. 256, 128 Pac. 727.
See EN VENTRE SA MERE ; TORT.