You Can Explain Birth Defect Litigation To Your Mom
Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer
If your child was born with a birth defect, it can have a devastating effect on you and your family. Therapy costs, medical bills and other expenses can add up quickly.
A Hyattsville birth defect lawyer could assist you in filing an appeal to receive compensation for the expenses of caring for your disabled child. Legal claims for birth defect attorneys defects can be a little tangled and therefore it is vital to seek legal advice immediately.
Medical Malpractice
Medical professionals must adhere to a set of standards when treating pregnant women or their infants. Doctors can be held responsible for damages when their actions cause birth defects or injuries. A DC lawyer who has experience in birth defect lawsuits can assist you in determining whether your child's illness could be due to an error in medical care during the pregnancy or delivery.
A doctor can also be held accountable for birth injuries if they fail diagnose fetal distress or fail to respond appropriately. This can cause a number of serious issues, such as hypoxic ischemic disorder (HIE) and brain injuries like cerebral palsy.
Birth injuries differ from birth defects in the sense that they are caused by circumstances during pregnancy, delivery, or labor. These injuries can be caused by conditions like Erb's Palsy, which occurs when the nerves that energize and control the arms of an infant are stretched or torn during the birth process as well as caput succedaneum which is a swelling of the scalp. Both of them can lead to lifelong disability and require ongoing treatment, which can result in large medical bills. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer will provide a no-cost initial consultation to analyze your situation and determine the best course of action for you and your child.
Prescription Drugs
A birth defect attorney may help parents determine the reason behind a child's birth defect. While many birth defects are due to genetics and other factors that occur during a mother's pregnancy, they can also occur as a result of medication. A variety of common medications can have a negative impact on the fetuses. This is particularly evident in the initial three months of pregnancy. They include anti-nausea medicines, NSAIDs, Birth Defect lawsuits chemotherapy drugs, certain antibiotics, and many more. These drugs have been linked to an increased risk of deformities in the limbs and heart defects, brain deformities and craniosynostosis.
It is the duty of a doctor to consider these risks when prescribing medicines for pregnant women. If doctors fail to follow this standard of care, then they could be held accountable for malpractice. Pharma companies can also be held responsible for not properly inform mothers of the risks of their medication. For instance, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been proven to significantly increase the risk of congenital defects that are major in the first trimester of pregnancy.
An attorney for birth defects can help a family get compensation for medical expenses, loss of income and quality of life. This could include hospital expenses, doctor's fees, pharmaceutical costs and other expenses as well as assistive devices and therapy.
Chemical Exposure
A birth defect lawyer may sue families of children with congenital disabilities as a result from the negligence of companies exposing pregnant women to chemicals and drugs that can cause birth deformities. These lawyers are specially trained to discover the cause of the birth defect in order to sue companies that expose mothers to teratogens as they are at work or in their homes.
Metals, fungicides herbicides and pesticides are among the chemicals that can cause birth defects. These chemicals are referred to as Teratogens because they affect the development of a healthy the fetus via chemical changes that lead to abnormal organs or hinder normal cell function. These chemicals are present in diverse settings like the manufacturing of semiconductors, metal cleaning and paint production.
Other harmful chemicals that could cause birth defects are aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons such as perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene and dichloroethane. These chemicals are known to cause cardiac birth defects in babies born to mothers who were exposed during their time in the womb.
Parents have filed lawsuits against several companies who were responsible for exposing the families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defects lawyers have won substantial settlements for families who have children who were born with severe birth defects due to the toxic chemical exposures at the base.
Environmental Exposure
Some birth defects are 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 could be a result of medical negligence, prescription drug abuse or exposure to toxic chemicals, they should consult an DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the issue.
Chemicals and other pollutants in the environment can cause serious birth defects when they are inhaled or absorbed by pregnant women. These chemicals are called Teratogens. More than 4 million chemicals are found in our food, air and water Some of them could be harmful if they come into contact with pregnant women.
For instance, arsenic in drinking water as well as cadmium derived from coal that has been contaminated can trigger a variety of birth defects as well as other health issues. Certain birth defects are linked to industrial solvents like benzene (a metal degreaser) as well as toluene (a solvent for plastics) and trichloroethylene. Glycol-ethers, which are used in the manufacture of silicon chips, semiconductors and video displays are well-known to increase the chance of having birth defects as well.
LK's experienced attorneys for birth defects have filed a variety of lawsuits in behalf of children who suffered from many birth defects as a result of accidental exposure to toxic chemicals or chemicals at their workplace or home. These lawsuits typically involve an extensive scientific analysis as well as expert witnesses, including toxicologists and epidemiologists, geneticists, occupational medicine experts and embryologists.