Michigan Court of Appeals Holds Physician Cannot Refuse to Provide IVF Treatment to a Woman Solely Based on the Woman's Marital Status
In an unpublished opinion on September 29, 2011, the Michigan Court of Appeals found that a physician cannot refuse to enter into a physician-patient relationship with a single woman seeking in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment because the woman is single.
In Moon v. Michigan Reproductive & IVF Center, P.C., plaintiff Allison Moon contacted two fertility clinics and specifically asked if the clinics would provide IVF services to a single woman. Both clinics responded that they did not provide such services to a single woman. Moon filed a discrimination suit against both clinics, alleging a violation of the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) based on her marital status. The lower court dismissed the claim, stating that under that under the common law, a physician could refuse to enter into a physician-patient relationship with any individual for any reason or no reason at all. The lower court found that under the language of the ELCRA, discrimination was prohibited "except where permitted by law." Thus, the court found that since common law allowed a physician to choose who he or she wanted to enter into a physician-patient relationship with for any or no reason, the ELCRA was inapplicable to the physician-patient relationship.
The Court of Appeals reversed the lower court, finding that the ELCRA specifically includes the right to receive services at a place of public accommodation, including a health facility, and it would be against the purpose of the ELCRA to allow such a broad reading of the physician-patient relationship. As such, the Court of Appeals held that a physician may only deny his or her consent to enter into a physician-patient relationship with a potential patient based on legally permissible, nondiscriminatory reasons.
Smith Haughey will continue to monitor this issue.
