Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child was born with a birth defect it could cause a huge impact on you and your family. The cost of therapy, medical bills and other expenses can quickly add up.

A Hyattsville lawyer that specializes in birth defects can help to file a claim for compensation for the cost of caring for your child with disabilities. A legal claim for birth defects can be complicated, and you should seek legal counsel as soon as you can.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must adhere to the highest standards of care when treating pregnant women and their babies. When a doctor’s actions are in violation of this standard and cause birth defect or injury and/or death, they may be held responsible for damage suffered by their patient. A DC lawyer who has experience in lawsuits for birth defects will help you determine if your child’s illness could be due to an error made by a doctor during the pregnancy or delivery.

A doctor may also be accountable for an injury that occurs during birth if they fail in diagnosing or properly respond to distress of the fetus. This can cause a number of serious problems, including hypoxic ischemic disorder (HIE) and brain injuries like cerebral palsy.

Birth injuries differ from birth defects in that they are caused by circumstances during pregnancy, birth, or labor. A possible injury is Erb’s spalsy, where the nerves controlling the infant’s arms and limbs are stretched or torn. Another form of injury is caput succedaneum which is swelling of the scalp. Both can lead to a lifelong disability, and ongoing treatment will cost a lot of money. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer will provide a no-cost initial consultation to analyze your case and determine the best method of action for you and your child.

Prescription Drugs

An attorney for birth defects may be able help parents determine the cause for a child’s birth injury. While many birth defects are due to genetics and other factors that occur during the mother’s pregnancy however, they can also be caused as a result of medication. A variety of commonly used medications can have a negative impact on foetuses. This is particularly true in the first three months of pregnancy. This includes anti-nausea medication such as NSAIDs, chemotherapy medicines including certain antibiotics, and more. These drugs have been linked with an increased risk of limb defects and brain defects, heart defects and craniosynostois.

A doctor’s job is to take into consideration the risks when prescribing medications for pregnant women. If doctors do not adhere to this standard of care, then they could be held accountable for negligence. Pharmaceutical companies could be held liable as well for not properly warning mothers of the dangers associated with their medications. For instance, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been shown to significantly increase the risk of congenital defects that are major in first trimester pregnancies.

A birth defect lawyer can help family members receive compensation for the future and present medical expenses that result from the disability or injury and also loss of earnings and the quality of life. This can include hospital, doctor’s pharmaceutical, and other costs, as well as assistive devices and therapies.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer can sue families of children who suffer from congenital disabilities because of the negligence of businesses exposing pregnant women to chemicals and other drugs that cause birth deformities. They are trained to discover what caused the birth defect, so they can sue companies that expose mothers to teratogens when they are at work or in their homes.

Some of the exposures to chemicals that lead to birth defect lawsuit defects are metals, fungicides, herbicides and birth defect other pesticides. These chemicals are known as teratogens due to the fact that they influence the healthy development of a the fetus via chemical changes that can cause abnormal organs or hinder normal cell function. These chemicals are found in many different environments, including metal cleaning and semiconductor manufacturing.

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

Parents have filed lawsuits against various firms that were responsible for the exposure of families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawyers have secured substantial settlements on behalf families whose children were born with serious defects as a result of the toxic chemical exposures at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Certain birth defects are caused by a combination of medical negligence and environmental factors or chemicals. If a family believes that the birth defect of their child may be the result of medical malpractice, prescription drug overdose or exposure to harmful chemicals, they should consult a DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the situation.

Chemicals and other toxins in the environment can cause birth defects of a serious nature when they are consumed or absorbed by pregnant women. Teratogens are the name for these chemicals. More than 4 million chemicals are found in our food, air and water. Certain of these chemicals may be harmful to pregnant women.

For instance, arsenic from drinking water as well as cadmium derived from coal that has been contaminated can trigger various birth defects, as well as other health issues. Certain birth defects are also associated with industrial solvents like benzene (a metal degreaser), toluene (a solvent for plastics) and trichloroethylene. Glycol-ethers are also known to increase the chance of birth defects in women. These chemicals are used for the manufacture of semiconductors display devices, silicon chip displays and video displays.

The experienced birth defect attorneys at LK have filed a variety of lawsuits on behalf of children suffering from a wide range of santa maria birth defect law firm defects caused by wrongful toxic and chemical exposure at work or in their homes. These lawsuits often involve an extensive scientific analysis as well as experts as witnesses, like toxicologists, epidemiologists, geneticists, occupational medicine experts and embryologists.