Guide To Birth Defect Litigation: The Intermediate Guide For Birth Defect Litigation

Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child was born with a birth defect, it can have a devastating impact on you and your family. The cost of therapy, medical bills and other losses can add up quickly.

A Hyattsville birth defect lawyer can assist you in filing claim for compensation for the expenses of taking care of your disabled child. Legal claims for birth defects can be a little tangled and therefore it is crucial to seek legal advice as soon as you can.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must adhere to an appropriate standard of care when treating pregnant women and their infants. If a doctor's actions are not in line with this standard and cause birth defect or injury, they can be held responsible for harms suffered by their patient. A DC lawyer with expertise in lawsuits involving birth defects can determine if your child's condition was caused by a medical mistake during pregnancy or during delivery.

A doctor may also be accountable for birth injuries if they fail to recognize or adequately respond to distress of the fetus. This can lead to a range of serious problems, including hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and brain injuries, such as cerebral palsy.

Birth injuries differ from birth defects because they are caused by circumstances during pregnancy, delivery, or labor. Injuries can result from ailments like Erb's palsy, which occurs when the nerves that power and control the arms of a newborn are stretched or birth defect damaged during birth, and caput succedaneum, a swelling of the scalp. Both of these could result in permanent disability and require ongoing treatment, which can result in large medical expenses. A Washington, DC lawyer who specializes in birth defects can offer a free consultation to analyze your case and determine the best course for you and your baby.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect lawyer may help parents determine the cause for a child's birth defect. While many birth defects are due to the genetics of the pregnancy of a mother, they can also occur as a result of medications. Many common medications have a significant effect on fetuses especially during the first trimester of pregnancy. This includes anti-nausea medication, NSAIDs, chemotherapy drugs, certain antibiotics, and many more. These drugs have been found to increase the risk of developing limb and brain deformities, heart defects, and craniosynostois.

A doctor's duty is to take into account the risks when prescribing medications for pregnant women. If doctors fail to adhere to this standard of care, they may be held liable for malpractice. Pharmaceutical companies could be held liable as well for not properly warning mothers of the risks associated with their medications. For instance, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been shown to significantly increase the risk of serious congenital defects during the first trimester of pregnancies.

A birth defect attorney can assist a family in obtaining compensation for medical expenses, income loss and the quality of life. This could include hospital costs as well as doctor's fees, pharmaceutical costs and other costs, as well as assistive devices and therapy.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer may bring a lawsuit on behalf of families of children who have congenital disabilities because from the negligence of companies which expose pregnant women and drugs that can cause birth defects. These lawyers are specially trained to determine the cause of the birth defect, so they can bring a lawsuit against the companies that expose mothers to teratogens as they are working or in their home.

Metals, fungicides and herbicides as well as pesticides are just a few of the chemicals that can cause birth defects. These chemicals are referred to as teratogens, because they can affect the development of a healthy the fetus via chemical changes that can cause abnormal organs, or disrupt normal cell function. These chemicals are present in diverse settings like semiconductor manufacturing, metal cleaning and paint production.

Other hazardous chemicals that could cause birth defects are aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene or dichloroethane. These chemicals have been shown to cause birth defects, including cardiac defects in babies born to mothers exposed to them while in the womb.

Parents have filed lawsuits against various companies who were responsible for exposing the families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawyers have won substantial settlements for families who have children who were born with serious defects as a result of the toxic chemical exposures at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Certain birth defects can be caused by the combination of medical negligence and environmental factors or chemicals. If a family suspects that the birth defects of a child could be the result of medical negligence, prescription drug overdose, or exposure to harmful chemical such as benzene, they should seek out a DC birth injury lawyer to discuss their case.

If pregnant women inhale or absorb contaminants from the environment they could develop serious birth defects. These substances are referred to as teratogens. More than 4 million chemicals are found in our food, air and water, and some of them are harmful if they come into contact with pregnant women.

For instance, arsenic from drinking water and cadmium from coal that is contaminated may cause various birth defects as well as other health issues. Industrial solvents, such as trichloroethylene, birth defect benzene, and toluene (a metal degreaser) are also linked with certain birth defects. Glycol-ethers are also known to increase the chance of birth defects in women. These chemicals are used for the manufacture of semiconductors as well as silicon chip displays and video displays.

LK's experienced birth defect attorneys have filed a variety of lawsuits on behalf of children who have suffered from a variety of birth defects caused by improper exposure to chemicals and toxic substances at work or at home. These lawsuits require complex scientific analyses and expert witnesses, such as toxicologists and epidemiologists.