Do Not Make This Blunder With Your Birth Defect Litigation

Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child was born with an anomaly in the birth, it can have a devastating effect on you and your family. Therapy costs, medical bills and other expenses can quickly mount up.

A Hyattsville lawyer who specializes in birth defects may be able to help you file for reimbursement for the expenses of caring for your child with disabilities. A legal claim for birth defects could be complicated, so you should consult with a legal professional as soon as possible.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must adhere to the highest standards of care when treating pregnant women and their infants. When a doctor's actions are in violation of this standard and result in birth defects or injuries, they can be held responsible for damages sustained by their patient. A DC lawyer who is experienced in lawsuits involving birth defects will help you determine if your child's health condition may be due to an error made by a doctor during pregnancy or the birth.

A doctor may be held accountable for birth injuries if they fail to detect fetal distress or don't respond appropriately. This can lead to numerous serious issues, including hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and hypoxic encephalopathy like cerebral palsy.

The difference between birth defects and birth injury is that defects are part of a person's genetic makeup and injuries are triggered due to something happening during labor, pregnancy, birth defects or the birth. These injuries can be caused by issues like Erb's syndrome, which occurs when the nerves that power and control the arms of an infant are stretched or damaged during birth and caput succedaneum, an increase in the size of the scalp. Both can result in a lifelong disability, and ongoing treatment will cost a great deal of money. A Washington, DC lawyer who specializes in birth defects can offer a free consultation to review your case, and determine the best course for you and your baby.

Prescription Drugs

An attorney for birth defects may help parents determine the reason behind an infant's birth injury. While many birth defects are due to the genetics of the mother's pregnancy, they can also occur as a result of medication. Many common medications have a significant effect on fetuses and babies, particularly during the first trimester of a pregnancy. Anti-nausea medication, NSAIDs and chemotherapy drugs are among the most common. These drugs have been found to increase the risk of developing limb and brain defects, heart defects and craniosynostosis.

A doctor's responsibility is to consider these risks when prescribing medication for pregnant women. If doctors do not meet the standards of care required, they could be held accountable for medical negligence. Pharmaceutical companies could be held accountable for not properly warning mothers of the risks associated with their medicines. For example, 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 a pregnancy.

An attorney for birth defects can assist a family in obtaining compensation for medical expenses, loss of income and quality of living. This could include hospital expenses medical expenses, doctor's fees and pharmaceutical costs, and other expenses, birth defects in addition to assistive devices, and therapy.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer can bring a lawsuit on behalf of families of children with congenital disabilities resulting from the negligence of businesses that expose pregnant women chemicals or drugs that cause birth defects - source website -. They are trained to determine the reason for the birth defects so that they can bring a case against companies that expose pregnant women to teratogens either at work or in their home.

Some of the chemical exposures that contribute to birth defects are the fungicides, metals, herbicides and other pesticides. These chemicals are called Teratogens because they interfere with the normal development of a embryo through chemical changes that lead to abnormal organs or prevent normal cell function. These chemicals are present in a variety settings, including semiconductor manufacturing and metal cleaning.

Other hazardous chemicals that could cause birth defects are aliphatic hydrocarbons with aliphatic chlorinated chemistry such as perchloroethylene (trichloroethylene), trichloroethylene ( dichloroethane. These chemicals have been proven to cause cardiac birth defects in babies born to mothers who were exposed in the womb.

Parents have filed lawsuits against a variety of firms that were responsible for exposing the families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of the birth defect lawyers have secured substantial settlements on behalf of families who had their children born with severe birth defects because of the toxic chemical exposures at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Some birth defect attorneys defects are caused by the combination of medical negligence and environmental factors or chemicals. If a family suspects that a child's birth defects may be due to medical negligence, prescription drug overdose, or exposure to harmful chemical and/or environmental factors, they should talk to a DC birth injury attorney to discuss their case.

Chemicals and other toxins in the environment can cause serious birth defects if they are ingested or absorbed by pregnant women. Teratogens are the term used to describe these chemicals. More than 4 million chemicals are found in our air, food and water. Certain of these chemicals can be harmful to pregnant women.

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

LK's skilled birth defect attorneys have filed a variety of lawsuits on behalf of children who suffered from a range of birth defects resulting from unintentional exposure to toxic chemicals and chemicals at work or at home. These lawsuits typically require sophisticated scientific analysis and experts as witnesses, like toxicologists, epidemiologists, geneticists, occupational medicine specialists and embryologists.