Becker v. Schwartz (46 N.Y.2d 401 [1978]) involved Dolores Becker who conceived a child when she was 37 years of age. (Id., at 405.) She engaged the professional services of defendants, physicians practicing obstetrics and gynecology. In May 1975, she gave birth to a retarded and brain-damaged infant who suffered from Down's syndrome. The Beckers--on behalf of themselves and their infant--sued defendants, alleging that they had never been advised of the heightened risk of a Down's syndrome baby in women over 35 or of the availability of an amniocentesis test to determine whether their fetus had Down's syndrome. In Becker v. Schwartz, the Beckers and their mongoloid infant sought damages from medical doctors who had not, despite the mother's age when she became pregnant, warned of the danger or informed the Beckers of amniocentesis. The parents, declared Becker, had stated a cause of action and could recover their pecuniary loss but not damages for emotional distress, as the latter recovery would offend public policy. The infant plaintiffs in both Becker and Park were held to be barred from recovery because of the inability of the law to make a comparison between human existence with handicaps and no life at all. The court particularly rejected the idea that a child may expect life without deformity: "There is no precedent for recognition at the Appellate Division of 'the fundamental right of a child to be born as a whole, functional human being' . . . ." ( Becker, supra, 413 N.Y.S.2d 895, 900.)