Compensation ruling for handicapped teenager

The highest court in France has ruled that a teenager handicapped from birth can claim compensation against doctors who failed to terminate his mother's pregnancy.

Nicolas Perruche, who's now seventeen, was born blind and mentally handicapped.

His parents have fought a long court battle for compensation from doctors who, they say, failed to diagnose that his mother had rubella, or German measles, which was likely to have caused his disability.

The Court of Cassation ruling means a compensation claim can now proceed through the lower courts.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service