A judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a woman who claimed that slipping on a manhole cover led her to give birth to a child with autism.
Back in 2009, Lauren Melnick said that she slipped and fell on a manhole cover before going into premature labor. Melnick’s daughter was later diagnosed with autism and the Staten Island, N.Y. woman sued utility provider Consolidated Edison alleging that her child’s developmental disability resulted from the incident.
Now a judge has thrown out the claim, however, indicating that there is insufficient medical proof to link Melnick’s fall and the subsequent premature birth to her daughter developing autism.
Melnick’s lawyer indicated she may appeal the decision telling the Staten Island Advance, “we continue to believe common sense and science would lead one to the conclusion that the traumatic events surrounding this girl’s birth contributed to her developmental delays.” To read more click here.
Are you kidding me?
No, sir, common sense leads one to the conclusion that your client is a gold digger. Shame on you for taking Ms. Melnick’s absurd case.
This is what happens when you hype the invented confusion about what causes autism. Frivolous cases like this one have a chance of succeeding that they do not deserve. Luckily, science prevailed in this one. Conspiracy and fear may prevail in the next. Whatever the outcome, the court’s time has been wasted. There is a real cost to falsely pretending that an issue has two or more sides of equal footing. Though in fact one side has been demonstrated using scientific rigour, while the other is maintained only by the outrageous claim that scientists are covering up the truth, the confusion generated by irresponsible people has allowed this case to come to court. It’s time to admit that the sky is blue already. Autism is genetic.