What Is Tay-Sachs Disease?
Tay-Sachs is a fatal genetic disorder in which harmful quantities of a fatty substance build up in the body and brain tissues, according to the National Institutes of Health. Babies born with Tay-Sachs disease appear normal for the first few months of life, but soon they may become blind, deaf, and unable to swallow. Other symptoms include seizures and dementia. Tay-Sachs is most common among people of Eastern European and Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Preconception testing can be done to find out if you or your partner is a carrier since both parents must have the gene in order for the baby to be born with Tay-Sachs. Prenatal testing can also be done, either through amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS).
Tay-Sachs and Wrongful Birth Cases
If you were not informed of your child’s Tay-Sachs disease before his or her birth, you may have a wrongful birth case. An error may have occurred in one of several steps in the process:
– Your doctor failed to read or interpret test results properly (e.g., AFP, ultrasound, amniocentesis) or did not advise you of your risks for giving birth to a baby with this condition.
– The medical lab failed to perform the appropriate tests or failed to report the results.
In both of these instances you were deprived of the choice to terminate the pregnancy or were unprepared to care for your disabled child. This may be grounds for a wrongful birth case. Contact O’Connor, Parsons, Lane & Noble for Help. At O’Connor, Parsons, Lane & Noble, our attorneys have extensive experience dealing with wrongful birth cases. Our team of New Jersey attorneys can help you determine if you have a wrongful birth case. In one wrongful birth case we handled, a mother took the precaution of going to a specialist to determine if her fetus had a rare genetic disorder. The medical testing company failed to do the test and the doctor failed to notice the omission. The baby was born with myotubular myopathy, a disease that requires round-the-clock care. The jury awarded $28 million to the family, which enabled the family to properly care for their sick child.
In one wrongful birth case we handled, a mother took the precaution of going to a specialist to determine if her fetus had a rare genetic disorder. The medical testing company failed to do the test and the doctor failed to notice the omission. The baby was born with myotubular myopathy, a disease that requires round-the-clock care. The jury awarded $28 million to the family, which enabled them to properly care for their sick child.
At O’Connor, Parsons, Lane & Noble we know that no parent wants to make the heartbreaking decision about whether to terminate a pregnancy or bring a severely disabled child into the world. But parents do have the right to know the facts, and doctors and medical laboratory professionals have a responsibility to perform proper tests and inform them of the results.
If your baby was born with Tay-Sachs contact O’Connor, Parsons, Lane & Noble. The initial consultation is free, confidential, and you are under no obligation. Contact us online or call at (908) 928-9200 or 1-800-586-5817
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