Fighting for a Disabled Mother's Right to See Her Children

April 14, 2010— -- Growing up, Abbie Dorn always dreamed of becoming a mother.

Now, at age 34, she is the mother of three healthy toddlers. Her home is filled with pictures of the children -- triplets named Esti, Reuvi and Yossi.

But in the four years since her children were born, Dorn has not been able to talk to them. She can't hold them or watch them play.

That's because Dorn endured severe brain damage following their birth.

Now, while her children run and play in their Los Angeles home, Dorn's family -- more than 2,500 miles away in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is locked in a legal battle with the children's father to grant Dorn the right to see her children.

The family's lawsuit, which could make its way to a courtroom by May, could become a landmark in defining what it means to be a parent, especially when that parent is disabled.

Dorn's story began happily in 2002. After graduating from college in Ohio and becoming a chiropractor in Atlanta, she married Dan Dorn, a devoutly religious man who shared her beliefs in Orthodox Judaism.

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They settled in Los Angeles near his family, and began to plan a family of their own. But Dorn struggled to conceive. After turning to fertility treatments, she finally received word in the fall of 2005 that she was expecting triplets.

"She was so excited to be pregnant -- she was beginning to say, 'I don't know if I'll ever get to be a mother,'" Dorn's mother, Susan Cohen, said.

But happiness turned to heartbreak after Dorn delivered the three children. What happened in the hospital in the hours after the triplets were born is not clear. And the case was eventually settled out of court for more than $7 million. What the family does know is that Dorn began bleeding internally. Her injury was not caught soon enough, and after a series of missteps, Dorn's brain was deprived of oxygen, leaving her severely brain damaged.

Since the day her three children were born, Dorn has required around-the-clock care. She can't speak or move on her own, and she remains in bed unless one of her caretakers moves her to a chair.