Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child was born with an anomaly in the birth, it can cause a huge impact on you and your family. Medical bills, therapy costs and other expenses can quickly add up.

A Hyattsville lawyer that specializes in birth defects can help you file for compensation for the costs of caring for your disabled children. Legal claims for birth defects are complicated, so it is important to seek legal advice whenever you can.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must adhere to a certain standard when treating pregnant women or their babies. When a doctor's actions are in violation of this standard and cause birth defect or injury, they can be held accountable for damage suffered by their patient. A DC lawyer who has experience in birth defect lawsuits can help you determine whether your child's condition could be due to an error in medical care during pregnancy or the birth.

A doctor can be held accountable for birth injuries if they fail identify fetal distress, or are unable to respond in a timely manner. This could lead to a variety of serious complications, including hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and brain injuries like cerebral palsy.

Birth injuries differ from birth defects in that they are caused by events during pregnancy, birth, or labor. Injury can include Erb's Palsy which is a condition where the nerves that control the infant's limbs and arms are stretched or torn. Another injury is caput succedaneum which is an inflammation of the scalp. Both of them can cause permanent disability and ongoing treatment will cost a great deal of money. A Washington, DC lawyer who is an expert in birth defects may offer a free consultation in order to look over your case and determine the best course of action for you and your baby.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect lawyer might help parents determine the cause for an infant's birth injury. While many birth defects are due to genetics and other factors that occur during the pregnancy of a mother however, they can also be caused as a result of medication. A number of common medications can have negative effects on the fetuses. This is especially true in the first three months of pregnancy. They include anti-nausea medicines such as NSAIDs, chemotherapy medicines including certain antibiotics, and many more. These drugs have been linked with an increased risk of deformities in the limbs and heart defects, brain deformities and craniosynostois.

A doctor's responsibility is to take into account the risks when prescribing medications for pregnant women. If doctors fail to meet this standard of care, they could be held accountable for medical malpractice. Pharmaceutical companies can be held accountable for failing to adequately warn mothers of the dangers that come with their medicines. Zofran is a medication that is used to treat nausea among cancer patients, has been shown to increase the risk of major defects occurring in first-trimester pregnancy.

A birth defect lawyer can assist family members receive compensation for the future and present medical expenses resulting from the disability or injury, and also loss of earnings and the quality of life. This could include hospital costs physician's fees, pharmaceutical costs, and other expenses, in addition to assistive devices, and birth defect lawsuits therapy.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer can bring a lawsuit on behalf families of children with congenital disabilities that result from the negligence of businesses that expose pregnant women chemicals or drugs that cause birth defects. These lawyers are specially trained to identify the cause of the birth defects so that they can bring a case against companies that expose pregnant women to teratogens at work or in their home.

Metals, fungicides herbicides and pesticides are some of the chemicals that can cause birth defects. These chemicals are known as teratogens because they affect the healthy development of the fetus making chemical changes that inhibit normal cell function or cause organs that are not properly formed. These chemicals can be used in a variety of settings, including semiconductor Birth defect lawsuits manufacturing and metal cleaning.

Other chemicals that can cause birth defects include hydrocarbons with aliphatic properties, like dichloroethane, trichloroethylene, or perchloroethylene. These chemicals have been proven to cause birth problems, including cardiac defects in babies born to mothers exposed to them during the womb.

Parents have filed lawsuits against several companies involved in exposing the families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawyers have secured significant settlements for families who had children born with severe birth defects due to the exposure to toxic chemicals at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Some birth defects are caused by a combination of medical negligence and environmental factors. If a family suspects that the birth defects of a baby could be due to medical negligence or prescription drug overdose or exposure to harmful chemicals, they should consult a DC birth injury attorney to discuss their case.

Chemicals and other substances in the environment can cause birth defects of a serious nature when they are inhaled or taken in by pregnant women. These substances are referred to as teratogens. More than 4 million chemicals exist in our food, air and water and a few can be harmful when they come into contact with pregnant women.

For instance, arsenic found in drinking water and cadmium in coal that has been contaminated can trigger numerous birth defect law firms defects as well as other health problems. Industrial solvents like benzene, toluene and trichloroethylene (a metal degreaser) are also linked with certain birth defects. Glycol ethers that are used in the manufacture of semiconductors, silicon chips and video displays, are known to increase the chance of having birth defects too.

Our experienced attorneys for birth defects have filed a variety of lawsuits on the name of children who suffered from a variety of birth defects as a result of the wrongful exposure to chemicals or toxic substances at work or at home. These lawsuits are based on complex scientific analyses and expert witnesses like toxicologists and epidemiologists.