Hey look, a reason for doctors to get nervous about providing contraceptive services to patients:
Apparently, a year and a half into the implant's three-year lifespan, it "could no longer be found in the woman's body." She got pregnant, split with the child's biological father, and sued the doctor for child support. And won.
What outrages me even more is that the doctor has to pay the biological father, too – the article is vague on that point and I am hoping fervently that the guy is not off the hook completely. Accident or not, that's his offspring, and his responsibility.
I would like to know if that happens often, that implants get dislodged, or dissolve, or ejected, or something. I've known women who got pregnant while using Depo-Provera shots; I would not be surprised if an implant, like other methods, is not 100 percent effective. As a friend says, "all technology has a non-zero failure rate," and (unfortunately) contraception is not one-size-fits-all.
It seems to me that treating doctors as the parents of accidental pregnancies will have a bad ripple effect. They'll be less willing to provide contraception, knowing that even when all directions are followed to the letter, life sometimes finds a way. And that will make it more difficult for women who wouldn't sue their doctors for child support to get the birth control services they need.
