A German doctor has been ordered to pay child support to a patient who got pregnant with a contraceptive implant.
The precedent-setting ruling by Germany's Federal Court gives both parents, who are not married, the right to receive child support from the doctor until their son reaches adulthood.
The unnamed gynaecologist from Suedbaden inserted a contraceptive implant into the arm of the woman in 2002. But the woman later found she was pregnant after it was too late for an abortion.
The woman, 25, also unnamed for legal reasons, took the gynaecologist to court, claiming she was unable to continue her work as a kindergarten teacher and could not support herself and the child.
Germany's highest court has now demanded the gynaecologist pay the equivalent of around £400 a month until the child turns 18.
Justice Gerda Mueller of the Federal Court refused to take into consideration the fact that the woman has had a second child since she filed the original complaint.
Justice Mueller said: "The existence of the child is not a damage in itself, but the need to support it financially is."
