Keep Your Head Up...

Now this is something one doesn’t experience every day: a man in Chicago sued a woman for emotional distress when he found out he was the illegitimate father of her child. He lost in the district courts, but won at the appellate level. The catch? This man, Dr. Richard Phillips, never engaged in intercourse with the mother of the child. She testified this in court, so it's not simply his word about hers. She had performed fellatio on the doctor, saved his semen, and impregnated herself with them. That’s pretty offbeat, I would say. And while I like to see men taking a stand against former lovers who use pregnancy to trap them, I wonder how the five year old child is feeling about this. According to the article on the Tampa Tribune website, Dr. Phillips is suing the woman for "calculated, profound personal betrayal" because he’s been tortured by "feelings of being trapped in a nightmare”. If my dad said this about me, I’d be hurt. This situation will affect this kid’s self-esteem and overall mental state for the rest of his life. Of course, my dad wouldn’t have to say that because he knew I was coming from the start, whereas this guy discovered he was a father two years after his son was born. Not to mention, of course, that he never had sex with the mother in the first place. As far as I’m concerned, that’s very dishonest, and if I were the first judge I would have ensured that Dr. Phillips would not have to pay the child support that was asked of him.