Mom seeks indefinite delay in Pa. triplets' lawsuit

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — The attorney for an Ohio woman says in court filings that her lawsuit claiming an Erie hospital wrongly allowed a surrogate mother to take home the Ohio woman’s triplets may not go forward with the lawsuit.

The Erie Times-News reports attorney Irving Portnoy has filed documents filed for Eileen Donich who wants the trial scheduled for March 25 delayed indefinitely “assuming that it is decided that the case will move forward at all.”

Donich’s husband, 69-year-old James Flynn, of Kirtland, Ohio, fathered the triplets but died last month.

Flynn and Donich, sued what is now UPMC Hamot in 2006, saying officials there wrongly allowed a Corry, Pa., woman Flynn hired as a surrogate mother to take the triplets home after giving birth in November 2003.

Hospital officials have said they were concerned because Flynn and Donich — then Flynn’s fiance — didn’t regularly visit the babies.

The decision set off a custody battle that Flynn and Donich eventually won.