New Kind of Paternity Suit?

When she purchased her first supply of birth control pills last year, West German Housewife Ursula Knack, then 27, was a bit puzzled by the label on the bottle. Her doctor had prescribed "Eu-gynon," but the bottle was marked "En-zynorm" — an aid to digestion. Frau Knack simply concluded that the Pill must be sold under a disguised name be cause some people disapprove of it.

Sixty-six days later, when she suffered stomach pains, it was not because of in digestion. She was pregnant again.

The result was an 8-lb. boy named Thomas Knack, whose coming was no cause for celebration in the Knack household. The husband is a low-wage railroad worker already supporting five children. He blamed the local pharmacist, who had misread the handwriting on Frau Knack's prescription, for the birth of Thomas. Arguing that the error would strain the family budget, the Knacks took Pharmacy Owner Hans Reimer to court to recover damages.

Reimer's attorney argued that "a child is not a liability, but rather a joyous event. A child is an asset that brings happiness fully compensating for any material damages." Last month a court in Schleswig-Holstein disagreed. While declaring that the Knacks had "a general responsibility to check what they bought," the court ruled that Reimer was negligent and ordered him to pay half the cost of the boy's upbringing until Thomas reaches 18. "Grotesque," said Reimer's attorney about the decision, which appeared to be the first of its kind either in West Germany or, for that matter, the U.S. Reimer plans an appeal.