Spina Bifida / Neural Tube Injury Lawyers

Serving New Jersey and the Philadelphia metropolitan area

Very few things in life are more painful than learning that a pregnancy will result or has resulted in the birth of a child with special physical or mental challenges. Such conditions can place a serious strain — both emotionally and financially — on the entire family.

Modern day obstetrics is constantly improving its ability to detect major birth defects during pregnancy- often fairly early in pregnancy. While not all such defects can be discovered, the last two decades have resulted in a dramatic increase in the ability of physicians to identify specific defects, particularly Neural Tube Defects (Spina Bifida).

Some specific testing that has led the way is a simple and widely used maternal blood test called the "triple screen". Another method is the universal offering of a "comprehensive ultrasound" during the second trimester which specifically looks for signs of abnormalities in the major organs, spine and brain. In addition, for those pregnancies designated as being at increased risk, amniocenteses is available which can conclusively demonstrate the existence of certain problems. These tests are routinely given at a stage in pregnancy when parents can then make meaningful choice about whether to continue the pregnancy. However, sometimes mistakes by medical personnel in the ordering or interpretation of these tests, or in the communication of the test results, result in parents not learning of the problem until after it is too late to consider terminating the pregnancy.

The decision to continue or terminate such pregnancies is an intensely personal one that remains a woman's constitutional right. The New Jersey Supreme Court has determined that if parents are deprived of the opportunity to make this decision because of a doctor's negligence, the parents are entitled to recover for emotional and financial damages.

The parents who we have represented in cases like these love the involved child as dearly as any other — perhaps even more so. They are faced with a lifetime of extraordinary financial burden in trying to secure needed medical care. They worry about what might become of the child in their eventual absence. We're pleased that we have been able to secure needed financial help for these families.

Michael L. Weiss, Esq. has tried several of these cases to a jury and has successfully recovered millions of dollars on behalf of these families.