It was clear from the article that she loved this child dearly – but that in order to give him a better lifestyle, she needed to tell the world she would have aborted the fetus, if given the chance. The seed for HANDLE WITH CARE began with an article I read about wrongful birth – a mother in New York who had recently won a multi-million dollar settlement sueing her OB/GYN after her son was born with severe chromosomal abnormalities. What led you to OI as the topic for this book? Did the idea of a wrongful birth suit come first or second? Talk about the research required for writing this novel. When faced with the reality of a fetus who will be disabled, at which point should an OB counsel termination? Should a parent have the right to make that choice? How disabled is TOO disabled? And as a parent, how far would you go to take care of someone you love? Would you alienate the rest of your family? Would you be willing to lie to your friends, to your spouse, to a court? And perhaps most difficult of all – would you admit to yourself that you might not actually be lying? Handle With Care explores the knotty tangle of medical ethics and personal morality. And the ob/gyn she’s suing isn’t just her physician – it’s her best friend. But it means that Charlotte has to get up in a court of law and say in public that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she’d known about the disability in advance – words that her husband can’t abide, that Willow will hear, and that Charlotte cannot reconcile.
If she files a wrongful birth lawsuit against her ob/gyn for not telling her in advance that her child would be born severely disabled, the monetary payouts might ensure a lifetime of care for Willow. As the family struggles to make ends meet to cover Willow’s medical expenses, Charlotte thinks she has found an answer.