Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child was born with a birth defect, it can cause a huge impact on you and your family. Medical bills, therapy costs and other losses can quickly increase.

A Hyattsville lawyer who is specialized in birth defects may be able to help you seek reimbursement for the expenses of caring for your children with disabilities. Legal claims for birth defects are a bit nebulous and it is essential to seek legal advice whenever you can.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must follow the highest standards of care when treating pregnant women and their infants. Doctors can be held liable for damages if their actions result in belton birth defect law firm defects or injuries. A DC lawyer with experience in birth defect lawsuits can assist you in determining if your child's condition was caused by a medical error during pregnancy or the birth.

A doctor could also be the cause of an injury that occurs during birth if they fail to recognize or respond adequately to distress in the fetus. This could lead to a variety of serious issues, such as hypoxic ischemic brain injury (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, where the nerves controlling the baby's arms and limbs are stretched or torn. Another type of injury is called caput succedaneum. It's an increase in the size of the scalp. Both can lead to a lifelong disability, and ongoing treatment can cost a significant amount of money. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer can provide a free initial consultation to analyze your case and determine the most appropriate option for you and your child.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect lawyer may be able to assist parents determine the reason for the child's birth injury or defect. Many birth defects result from genetics or factors during pregnancy. However, medications can also cause birth defects. Many common medications have a profound effect on fetuses, particularly in the first trimester of a pregnancy. These include anti-nausea medications and NSAIDs as well as 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.

A doctor's job is to consider these risks when prescribing medication for birth defect women who are pregnant. If doctors fail to follow this standard of care, they could be held accountable for negligence. Pharma companies can also be held responsible for not properly informing mothers about the dangers associated with their medication. 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.

An attorney who specializes in birth defects can help a family get compensation for medical expenses, income loss and quality of living. This could include doctor's, hospital prescription, pharmaceutical, and other costs, in addition to assistive devices and treatments.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer may bring a lawsuit on behalf of families of children who suffer from congenital disabilities resulting from the negligence of businesses that expose pregnant women to chemicals or drugs that cause birth defects. They are trained to discover the cause of the birth defect in order to bring a lawsuit against the companies which expose mothers to teratogens while they work or at their homes.

Some of the chemical exposures that lead to birth defects are the use of fungicides and metals as well as herbicides and other pesticides. 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 can be found in a variety of settings, including processing of semiconductors and metal cleaning.

Other chemicals that may cause birth defects are the aliphatic hydrocarbons like dichloroethane, trichloroethylene, or perchloroethylene. These chemicals have been proven to cause birth defects, including cardiac defects in babies born to mothers exposed to them while in the womb.

Parents have filed lawsuits against several companies involved in the exposure of families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defects lawyers have won substantial settlements for families whose children were born with severe birth defects due to the exposure to toxic chemicals at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Some birth defects can be 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 chemical or chemical substances, they should speak with an DC birth injury lawyer to discuss their case.

If pregnant women inhale or absorb contaminants from the surrounding environment and then develop birth defects. Teratogens are the names given to these substances. More than 4 million chemicals exist in our food, air and water Some of them can be harmful if they come into contact with pregnant women.

Arsenic in drinking waters or cadmium in contaminated coal for instance, could cause birth defects as well as other health issues. Industrial solvents, such as benzene, toluene and trichloroethylene (a metal degreaser) are also linked with certain birth defects. Glycol ethers, which are employed in the manufacturing of silicon chips, semiconductors and video displays are recognized to increase a woman's risk of developing birth defects.

Our experienced attorneys for birth defects have filed many lawsuits in behalf of children suffering from many birth defects as a result of the wrongful exposure to chemicals or toxic substances at work or at home. These lawsuits involve complicated scientific analyses and expert witnesses such as toxicologists and epidemiologists.