Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child was born with a birth deformity, it can have a devastating effect on your family and you. Medical bills, therapy costs and other expenses can quickly accumulate.

A Hyattsville lawyer that specializes in birth defects could help you file for compensation for the costs of taking care of your disabled children. A legal claim for birth defects could be complex, so you should seek legal advice as soon as possible.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must follow the highest standards of care when treating pregnant women and their infants. A doctor could be held liable for damages if their actions result in birth defects or injuries. A DC lawyer with experience in lawsuits involving birth defects will help you determine if your child's condition could have been caused by a medical error during pregnancy or delivery.

A doctor may also be responsible for a birth injury when they fail to recognize or properly respond to fetal distress. This can result in a variety of serious issues, including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and brain injuries, such as cerebral palsy.

Birth injuries differ from birth defects in the sense that they are caused by circumstances during pregnancy, delivery or labor. Injuries can include ailments like Erb's palsy which is caused when the nerves that stimulate and control the arms of a newborn are stretched or ruptured during birth, and caput succedaneum, a swelling of the scalp. Both of these can result in permanent disability and require ongoing treatment, resulting in large medical expenses. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer will provide a no-cost initial consultation to review your case and determine the best option for you and your child.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect attorney may be able to help parents determine the cause for a child's birth injury. Many birth defects result from birth defect lawsuit defects or genetics. However, certain medications can also cause birth defects. Certain common medications have a profound effect on fetuses and babies, particularly during the first trimester of pregnancy. This includes anti-nausea medication, NSAIDs, chemotherapy medications such as certain antibiotics and more. These drugs have been found to increase the risk of developing limb and brain deformities, heart defects, and craniosynostosis.

The duty of a doctor is to be aware of these risks when prescribing medication for pregnant women. If doctors fail to follow this standard of care, then they could be held accountable for negligence. Pharmaceutical companies could be held accountable for failing to adequately warn mothers of the dangers associated with their products. For example, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been proven to significantly increase the risk of serious congenital defects during the first trimester of pregnancies.

A birth defect lawyer can help families get reimbursement for future and ongoing medical expenses related to the disability or injury, in addition to loss of income and quality of life. This could include doctor's, hospital prescription, pharmaceutical, and other costs, in addition to aidive devices and treatments.

Chemical Exposure

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

Some of the chemical exposures that contribute to birth defects are herbicides, fungicides, metals and other pesticides. These chemicals are known as teratogens, because they can interfere with the normal development of a the fetus via chemical changes that lead to abnormal organs or hinder normal cell function. These chemicals are present in a variety situations, such as processing of semiconductors and metal cleaning.

Other chemicals that can cause birth defects include aliphatic hydrocarbons, such as dichloroethane and trichloroethylene perchloroethylene. These chemicals have been proven to cause cardiac birth defects in babies born to mothers who were exposed while they were in the womb.

Parents have filed lawsuits to expose companies to liability for exposing families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawyers have secured significant settlements on behalf of families whose children were born with severe defects as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Certain birth defects can be caused by a combination of medical negligence as well as environmental conditions or chemicals. If a family believes that the birth defect of their child may result from medical malpractice, prescription drug overdose or exposure to toxic chemicals, they should contact an DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the matter.

Chemicals and other contaminants in the environment can cause serious birth defects when they are inhaled or taken in by pregnant women. These chemicals are called teratogens. More than 4 million chemicals can be found in our air, food and water. Some of these chemicals may be harmful to pregnant women.

For example, arsenic in drinking water and cadmium in coal that is contaminated can cause numerous birth defects and other health issues. Industrial solvents like benzene toluene and trichloroethylene (a metal degreaser) are also associated with certain birth defects. Glycol-ethers are also known for their ability to increase the chance of birth defects in women. These chemicals are used for the manufacture of semiconductors, silicon chip displays and video displays.

LK's highly experienced birth defect lawyers have brought many lawsuits on behalf of children suffering from a wide range of birth defects as a result of the wrongful exposure to chemicals and toxic substances at workplaces or at home. These lawsuits often involve complex scientific analysis and expert witnesses, such as toxicologists and epidemiologists, geneticists, embryologists and occupational medicine experts.