Doe v. Board of Health

5 Misc. 3d 424, 782 N.Y.S.2d 180, 2004 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1275
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 19, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 5 Misc. 3d 424 (Doe v. Board of Health) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doe v. Board of Health, 5 Misc. 3d 424, 782 N.Y.S.2d 180, 2004 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1275 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2004).

Opinion

[425]*425OPINION OF THE COURT

Jane S. Solomon, J.

This is an action for declaratory relief whereby the biological parents of newborn triplets, who were carried by a gestational surrogate, join with the gestational surrogate and her husband in seeking a judgment that the biological parents’ names should appear on the children’s birth certificates.

Dick Doe and Jane Doe are husband and wife, as are Dick Roe and Jane Roe. Mrs. Doe and Mrs. Roe are sisters. Mrs. Doe is unable to bear children because her uterus was removed as a result of cancer. Her sister agreed to the implantation in her uterus of embryos created from the sperm and ova of Mr. and Mrs. Doe. This is known as a “gestational surrogacy.” No consideration, except love and affection, is involved. Three fetuses developed in Mrs. Roe’s uterus, and Baby Girls A, B and C were born of her on August 17, 2004 at a New York City hospital.

Prior to the birth of the babies, plaintiffs had moved in this court for a preliminary injunction, pending the court’s determination of parentage: (1) enjoining the hospital or its staff from reporting the births to the New York City Board of Health and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) pursuant to section 201.03 of the New York City Health Code (24 RCNY); (2) compelling DOHMH to suspend issuance of certificates of birth for the triplets; and (3) compelling DOHMH to issue the birth certificates for the triplets in conformity with the court’s determination of parentage. By decision placed on the record on August 16, 2004, and for reasons discussed more fully below, the court denied the plaintiffs’ request for preliminary injunctive relief, except to the extent of enjoining the hospital and its staff from issuing a report of the births until the fifth business day following any birth to Mrs. Roe.

Plaintiffs now move, by order to show cause, for an order declaring that Mrs. Doe is the mother of Baby Girls A, B and C. In support of the present motion, plaintiffs have presented three documents entitled “Relinquishment of Parental Rights” sworn to by Mrs. Roe, the birth mother, reconfirming her position that she does not wish to assert any actual or potential rights she may have to the three children.

Plaintiffs’ original complaint, filed on or about June 29, 2004, had sought a judgment declaring that the Does are the legal [426]*426parents of the three children and enjoining the defendants from recording the birth mother and/or her- husband as the parents on the children’s respective birth certificates. Mrs. Roe’s obstetrician and the hospital, originally named as defendants, stipulated to comply with any final order issued by the court. DOHMH answered the complaint on or about July 27, 2004. DOHMH opposed the grant of a prebirth order, arguing that it violates article 8 of the Domestic Relations Law, as that statute declares all surrogate parenting contracts void and unenforceable in New York State. DOHMH further argued that the hospital and its physicians are required to report to DOHMH the true medical facts surrounding a live birth, including the identity of the woman giving birth to a child, so that the medical records remain accurate and to prevent fraud or mistake in the determination of such matters as identity, citizenship, inheritance and insurance coverage.

In opposition to the present motion, DOHMH argues that it would not oppose the grant of postbirth relief amending the birth certificates to report the Does as the father and mother of the children, provided their identity as genetic parents is established to this court through DNA evidence, or they are named the legal parents of the children pursuant to a formal adoption proceeding.

On the motion for a prebirth order, this court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to show a likelihood of success. This was because the complaint itself recognizes that a surrogate parenting contract is prohibited and unenforceable in this state, even where no payment of funds is involved. (Domestic Relations Law art 8, §§ 121-124.) The Domestic Relations Law makes no distinction between gestational surrogacy contracts and traditional surrogacy arrangements, where the woman agrees to be inseminated with the sperm of a man and a pregnancy occurs with her own ovum. (Domestic Relations Law § 121.) Therefore, as plaintiffs acknowledged, “a birth mother who gives birth to a child pursuant to a surrogate parenting agreement, is vested with parental rights to that child and must surrender or consent to the adoption of the child in order for parental rights to be vested in the intended mother (See DRL § 124 and § 121 (4) (b)).” (Complaint 11 38.)

Plaintiffs had contended that the Domestic Relations Law was not implicated because there was no dispute between the biological parents and the gestational carrier in this case. While this was and remains the case, there was the possibility of a [427]*427change of heart on the part of Mrs. Roe after the birth of the babies. Therefore, plaintiffs’ request for a prebirth order was, in effect, a termination of Mrs. Roe’s parental rights prebirth, and the equivalent of making her subject to a binding agreement to surrender the child, contrary to New York law. (Accord A.H.W. v G.H.B., 339 NJ Super 495, 505, 772 A2d 948, 954 [Super Ct, Bergen County 2000].)

A second and independent reason for denying the requested relief was that the Family Court has “exclusive original jurisdiction” in proceedings to establish paternity. (Family Ct Act § 115 [a] [iii]; § 511.) Part of the plaintiffs’ original request for relief was a declaration that Mr. Doe, the biological father, was a legal parent of the then fetuses. Since section 517 of the Family Court Act allows such a proceeding to be instituted “during the pregnancy of the mother,” Mr. Doe was directed to apply forthwith to the Family Court for an order of paternity. (See, e.g., Matter of Andres A. v Judith N, 156 Misc 2d 65 [Fam Ct, Queens County 1992].) With such an order in hand, he would then be listed on the birth certificates and authorized to make postbirth medical decisions.

Plaintiffs correctly noted that the Family Court could not afford any relief to Mrs. Doe, the biological mother. (See, e.g., Matter of Andres A. v Judith N, 156 Misc 2d 65 [1992], supra.) The Family Court Act was written in 1962, before today’s medical advancements which allow for two women to claim maternal rights to a baby, and is silent as to maternity. It follows, then, that the Supreme Court, as a court of “general original jurisdiction in law and equity” (NY Const, art VI, § 7 [a]), has the power to issue an “order of maternity.” (Accord Arredondo v Nodelman, 163 Misc 2d 757 [Sup Ct, Queens County 1994].) Section 7 (b) of article VI of the New York Constitution provides that “[i]f the legislature shall create new classes of actions and proceedings, the supreme court shall have jurisdiction over such classes of actions or proceedings.” Similarly, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over a novel dispute where no statutory provision takes it away. Section 124 of the Domestic Relations Law specifically leaves open the type of legal proceeding that may be instituted following the birth of a child born pursuant to a surrogate parenting contract, and does not limit the parties to a formal adoption proceeding.

Turning to the issue of whether DNA evidence should be presented, plaintiffs have submitted an affidavit from a physician who practices in a fertility clinic that is associated with a major [428]

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Bluebook (online)
5 Misc. 3d 424, 782 N.Y.S.2d 180, 2004 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1275, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-v-board-of-health-nysupct-2004.