Wrongful Birth Lawyers

What is Wrongful Birth & How Can a Wrongful Birth Lawyer Help You?

When a woman is pregnant, she relies on her doctor to guide her through the pregnancy and monitor the well-being of her unborn child. In most cases, a baby is born healthy, thanks to conscientious doctors and prenatal testing.

There are times, however, when a genetic or chromosomal abnormality in the unborn child is missed due to a doctor ’s negligence or medical laboratory’s mistake. This mistake can result in a child being born with a devastating and debilitating condition or disease.

Such an instance can be grounds for a wrongful birth case. Our expert wrongful birth lawyers can help.

Wrongful Birth Cases Can Result From Many Different Errors

Wrongful birth may be the result of a doctor’s failure to diagnose a genetic or chromosomal abnormality. The doctor might not order the right genetic test or inform a couple of the risks of giving birth to a child with an inherited condition or disease, even before conception.

Birth Injuries can also occur because of inadequate prenatal screening. In this case, a doctor may fail to test for a condition or disease during pregnancy. Or a medical laboratory may fail to conduct a test for a condition or disease that the doctor ordered, and the doctor doesn’t notice the omission.

Another cause wrongful birth is when a pregnancy is not monitored properly. In this case, a doctor may not notice an abnormality in ultrasound or other form of prenatal testing.

Wrongful birth can also be the result of a laboratory error or mistake.

Types of Conditions That Are Grounds for Wrongful Birth

There are many inherited conditions and diseases that can be detected by prenatal testing or by genetic testing. Some of these conditions are:

• Cystic Fibrosis – An inherited disease that is not always easily detected, Cystic Fibrosis causes a build-up of mucus that affects the lungs and digestive system.
• Down Syndrome (trisomy 21) – Caused by extra genetic material, Down syndrome can be detected before birth and often leads to mental retardation.
• Edwards Syndrome (trisomy 18) – Detectable before birth, Edwards syndrome is caused by an extra chromosome, and results in severe physical abnormalities and, in most cases, death within a year.
• Myotubular Myopathy – Occurring in three forms of varying severity and symptoms, Myotubular Myopathy is a rare muscle-wasting disorder that can be present at birth.
• Patau Syndrome (trisomy 13) – Resulting in severe mental and physical abnormalities; Patau syndrome is caused by an extra chromosome and is detectable during pregnancy.
• Sickle Cell Anemia – An inherited blood disorder, sickle cell anemia can cause severe pain, life-threatening infection, delayed growth and organ damage.
• Spina Bifida – Occurring in several types of varying severity, the causes of spina bifida are unclear, though there are a number of tests that can aid in diagnosis.
• Tay-Sachs disease – A genetic trait that can be detected before birth, infants with Tay-Sachs disease are missing necessary enzymes, and as a consequence, fatty proteins build up, impairing sight, hearing, movement, and mental development.
• Thalassemia Major – Children who survive this genetic blood disorder require lifelong transfusions and extensive medical care, and often die of heart failure and infection.

How Our Wrongful Birth Lawyers Can Help

Our wrongful birth lawyers have extensive experience dealing with wrongful birth cases. Our team of New Jersey wrongful birth lawyers 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. Our Attorneys took the case to trial, and the jury awarded $28 million to the family, which enabled them to properly care for their sick child. Keep in mind that results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

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 the parents of the results.

Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.