$1.5 Million Settlement for Delay in Reporting Fetal Abnormality

A 35-year-old woman went to her HMO for an Alpha Feta Protein test when she was 18 weeks pregnant. The test showed abnormalities to the fetus.

Although the results were available within 48 hours, the abnormality in the test was not disclosed until her 24th week. Due to the high risk to herself, pregnancy termination was not an option at that point — although it would have been at 18 weeks if the abnormality had been disclosed.

The child, “KJ,” now eight years old, was born with an Encephalocoele, is partially blind and suffers mental retardation and seizures. Blume Goldfaden associate Michael Zerres obtained a $1.5 million settlement in this wrongful life case to help compensate the family for the extraordinary medical costs necessitated by the child’s condition.