Drawing on a wealth of detailed medical knowledge, Charles Hehmeyer has focused his practice on medical negligence, with a special dedication to one group of clients. He is the only lawyer in the U.S. who routinely represents families - all across the country - who have a child suffering from a metabolic disorder. He has become one of the most vocal leaders in the fight against these tragedies. Thanks to his work with support groups and affected families nationwide, Mr. Hehmeyer has prompted profound improvements in newborn medical diagnosis and care.
Genetic metabolic disorders, if diagnosed in infancy, can be successfully treated with special diets or other therapy. If undiagnosed, however, they can lead to severe retardation and even death. For several decades, all infants in the United States have been routinely screened for many of these disorders—PKU (phenyketonuria) is perhaps the best known—but not all of them. The most sensitive test involves a technology called tandem mass spectrometry that can save lives; yet at present, a number of states refuse to send newborn blood for this special testing. Mr. Hehmeyer wrote an article focused on this injustice, which the editors of Exceptional Parent Magazine sent to all U.S. Senators and each state’s director of public health. Click here to read article. Mr. Hehmeyer has been quoted in many national publications discussing newborn screening. Click here to read article.
One of Mr. Hehmeyer’s first encounters with metabolic disorders was when he was called upon to defend an Amish family wrongly accused of murdering their daughter. While the charges were pending, the parents lost custody of all of their children. The family’s doctor thought that the little girl might have died from a metabolic disorder. The doctor and the family asked Mr. Hehmeyer to get involved. The investigation revealed that the girl had a bleeding disorder that went undetected and untreated because a midwife failed to give her a vitamin K injection at birth. The parents were exonerated and reunited with their children. Smithsonian Magazine profiled that case in a 2006 article. Click here to read article.
An impassioned advocate for the children and their families, Mr. Hehmeyer works also to change hospital practices. One month after Mr. Hehmeyer filed suit against a Philadelphia area hospital for failing to screen a newborn child who had a readily treatable metabolic disorder, the Hospital announced that it would change its practices. Click here to read article. Shortly thereafter, all Philadelphia hospitals changed their policies to include screening. A recent California case filed by Mr. Hehmeyer and co-counsel in San Francisco resulted in a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal and helped change the law in California. Click here to read article.
After starting his career at Schnader Harrison, Mr. Hehmeyer established his own firm largely to focus on these cases. Raynes McCarty sought his help in representing a child with a metabolic disorder, and not long after that he accepted an invitation to join the firm full-time. Mr. Hehmeyer has earned the highest rating in legal ability and ethics from Martindale-Hubbell.
- Ohio State
- University of Pennsylvania Law School
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