Helmcamp, Carrie

Drawing on a wealth of detailed medical knowledge, Charles Hehmeyer focuses his practice on medical negligence, handling all types of malpractice suits.  Mr. Hehmeyer often serves as lead counsel for major cases throughout the United States.

Mr. Hehmeyer has a special dedication to pediatric patients for whom he has secured many seven- and eight-figure settlements in birth injury and other cases.  This money allows children who are severely injured by substandard hospital or physician treatment to receive the best therapies and care for the rest of their lives and also brings peace of mind to their parents.

Mr. Hehmeyer is the only lawyer who routinely represents families across the country who have a child with a metabolic disorder or inborn error of metabolism.  He has become one of the most vocal leaders in the fight against these tragedies.  Thanks to his work along with support groups and affected families nationwide, Mr. Hehmeyer prompted important improvements in newborn care.

An impassioned advocate for screening, Mr. Hehmeyer works 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 treatable metabolic disorder, the Hospital announced that it would change its practices.  Shortly thereafter, all Philadelphia hospitals changed their policies to include this screening.  A 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 newborn screening practices in California.  Mr. Hehmeyer forced a large hospital in Georgia to address its failure to properly test newborns and to compensate a family for the death of their son.  Recently, Mr. Hehmeyer and co-counsel in Colorado challenged a hospital in Fort Collins that declined to inform parents about important testing that resulted in a little girl suffering a severe brain injury that would have been prevented had the testing been offered.

Mr. Hehmeyer also is working to address the current nationwide failure by many hospitals to screen newborns for congenital heart defects.  These defects, which can be detected by a simple, non-invasive pulse oximetry test (that takes a nurse only a moment), usually are treatable and kill or severely injure many babies every year.  Yet, tragically, parents often are not given this information.

Mr. Hehmeyer has earned the highest rating in legal ability and ethics from Martindale-Hubbel.

Select articles Relating to Cases Handled by Mr. Hehmeyer:

"The Case for Universal Screening," The Exceptional Parent.  Click here to read article.

"Medicine:  Fast Technology Drives New World of Newborn Screening," Sciencemag.org.  Click here to read article.

"Medical Sleuth," Smithsonian Magazine.  Click here to read article.

"Early Warning: A Simple Test Saves One Baby; Another Falls Ill," The Wall Street Journal.  Click here to read article.