Every year approximately 1000 American children are born with treatable, detectable metabolic disorders. Thanks to newborn screening tests, many are diagnosed and treated quickly, and go on to lead fulfilling lives. Tragically, many other children never get the proper blood screening tests, and they can be killed or permanently crippled by disease before the first symptoms become apparent.
Firm attorney Chuck Hehmeyer has devoted much of his legal career to aiding the families of children with metabolic disorders, including PKU (phenyketonuria), GA-1 (Glutaric Acidemian Type I), MCAD (Medium Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency), IVA (Isovaleric Acidemia), Galactosemia, MSUD (Maple Syrup Urine Disease), Homocystinuria, CAH (Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia), Biotinidase Deficiency, and PA (Proprionic Acidemia). One of Mr. Hehmeyer's first encounters with metabolic disorders was when he was called on 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. Investigation revealed that the girl had a bleeding disorder that had gone undetected and untreated because a midwife failed to give her a vitamin K injection at birth. The parents were exonerated and reunited with their surviving children.
Mr. Hehmeyer now has a national reputation in this area; he represents children with metabolic disorders in California, Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and everywhere in between. Mr. Hehmeyer speaks regularly to support groups, medical groups, and lawyers about this unique group of diseases. He has published extensively, trying to ensure that his expertise will no longer be needed.
An impassioned advocate for children and their families, Mr. Hehmeyer also works to change hospital practices. For instance, shortly after Mr. Hehmeyer filed suit against a Delaware Valley 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 more about the case. Shortly thereafter, all Philadelphia area hospitals changed their policies to include screening.
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