14 Smart Ways To Spend Left-Over Birth Defect Litigation Budget
Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer
If your child was born with a birth deformity it can cause a lot of grief for your family as well as you. Medical bills, therapy costs and other losses can quickly add up.
A Hyattsville lawyer who specializes in birth defects can help you seek compensation for the costs of taking care of your disabled children. A legal claim for birth defects may be complicated, so you should consult a lawyer whenever you can.
Medical Malpractice
Medical professionals must adhere to a standard of care when treating pregnant women and their babies. Doctors can be held responsible for damages when their actions cause birth defects or injuries. A DC lawyer who is experienced in birth defect lawsuits can help you determine if your child's illness could be the result of an error in medical care during the pregnancy or birth defect lawsuits delivery.
A doctor could also be held accountable for birth injuries if they fail recognize fetal distress and are unable to respond in a timely manner. This can result in a variety of serious problems, including hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and brain injuries, such as cerebral palsy.
Birth injuries differ from birth defects in that they are caused by circumstances during pregnancy, delivery or labor. These injuries can be caused by ailments like Erb's palsy that occurs when the nerves that stimulate and control the infant's arms are stretched or torn during birth, and caput succedaneum, an increase in the size of the scalp. Both of them can cause permanent disability, and continued treatment can cost a significant amount of money. A Washington, DC lawyer who is an expert in birth defects may provide a free consultation to review your case, and decide on the best course for you and your baby.
Prescription Drugs
A birth defect lawyer might be able to assist parents determine the reason for the child's birth injury or defect. While many birth defects are the result of the genetics of the pregnancy of a mother however, they can also be caused due to medications. Certain common medications can have negative effects on foetuses. This is especially applicable in the early months of pregnancy. They include anti-nausea medicines, NSAIDs, chemotherapy medications including certain antibiotics, and many more. These drugs have been proven to increase the risk of limb and brain deformities, heart defects, and craniosynostois.
A doctor's responsibility is to consider the risks when prescribing medications for pregnant women. If doctors do not follow this standard of care, they could be held accountable for malpractice. Pharmaceutical companies could be held liable as well for not adequately informing mothers about the risks associated with their medications. For instance, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been demonstrated to significantly increase the risk of serious congenital defects during the first trimester of pregnancies.
An attorney for birth defects can help a family get compensation for medical expenses, income loss and quality of life. This could include hospital, doctor's prescription, pharmaceutical, and other expenses, as well as aidive devices and treatments.
Chemical Exposure
A birth defect lawyer may bring a lawsuit on behalf families of children with congenital disabilities that result from the negligence of businesses that expose pregnant women to chemicals or drugs that cause birth defects. These lawyers are specially-trained to determine the cause of birth defects so that they can bring a lawsuit against companies that expose pregnant women to teratogens either at work or at home.
Metals, fungicides herbicides and pesticides are a few chemicals that can cause birth defects. These chemicals are called teratogens due to the fact that they affect the development of a healthy the fetus via chemical changes that cause abnormal organs or block normal cell function. These chemicals are found in diverse settings like manufacturing of semiconductors, metal cleaning and paint production.
Other chemicals that can cause birth defects are aliphatic hydrocarbons, such as dichloroethane, trichloroethylene, or perchloroethylene. These chemicals have been known to cause birth problems, including cardiac defects, in babies born to mothers who were exposed to them in the womb.
Parents have filed lawsuits to expose companies to liability for the families of soldiers in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina exposed to harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawyers have obtained substantial settlements on behalf of families whose children were born with severe defects because of exposure to toxic chemicals at the base.
Environmental Exposure
Some birth defects can be caused by a combination between medical negligence and environmental factors. If a family suspects a child's birth defects may be due to medical negligence or prescription drug overdose or exposure to harmful chemical or chemical substances, they should speak with a DC birth injury attorney to discuss their case.
If pregnant women ingest or absorb contaminants from the environment, they can cause serious birth defects. Teratogens are the name for these substances. More than 4 million chemicals can be found in our air, food and water. Certain of these chemicals can be dangerous to pregnant women.
Arsenic in drinking water or cadmium in coal that has been contaminated for instance, could cause birth defects as well as other health problems. Industrial solvents, such as trichloroethylene, toluene, and benzene (a metal degreaser) are also linked to certain birth defects. Glycol ethers, utilized in the production of silicon chips, semiconductors and video displays are well-known to increase the risk of developing birth defects too.
The experienced lawyers at LK for birth defects have filed a variety of lawsuits in behalf of children who suffered from various birth defects due to wrongful toxic or chemical exposure at work or at home. These lawsuits often involve an extensive scientific analysis as well as experts as witnesses, like toxicologists or epidemiologists, geneticists occupational medicine specialists and embryologists.