Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

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

A Hyattsville birth defect lawyer can assist you in filing an action to collect compensation for the cost of taking care of your child with disabilities. A legal claim for birth defects can be complicated, which is why you should seek legal counsel as soon as you can.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must follow a standard of care when treating pregnant women and their babies. If a doctor's actions are not in line with this standard and result in an injury or birth defect, they can be held liable for the damages sustained by their patient. A DC lawyer who has expertise in lawsuits for birth defects will help you determine if your child's condition was caused by a medical mistake during pregnancy or during delivery.

A doctor may also be held liable for birth injuries if they fail diagnose fetal distress or do not respond appropriately. This can result in a variety of serious issues, such as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (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 develops when the nerves that stimulate and control the infant's arms are stretched or ruptured during birth and caput succedaneum, a swelling of the scalp. Both of these could lead to lifelong disability and require ongoing treatment, resulting in large medical bills. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer will provide a no-cost initial consultation to examine your case and determine the most appropriate option for you and your child.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect lawyer might be able to assist parents identify the root of a child's birth injury or defect. While many birth defects are due to the genetics of the pregnancy of a mother however, they can also be caused due to medications. A number of commonly used medications have a significant effect on fetuses especially during the first trimester of pregnancy. Anti-nausea drugs, NSAIDs, and chemotherapy medications are among the most common. These drugs have been proven to increase the risk of limb and heart defects, brain deformities, and craniosynostois.

A doctor's responsibility is to be aware of these risks when prescribing medication for women who are pregnant. If doctors fail to adhere to the requirements of this standard of care, they could be held accountable for medical malpractice. Pharmaceutical companies could be held accountable for not adequately informing mothers of the risks associated with their medicines. For example, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been proven to significantly increase the risk of major congenital defects in the first trimester of pregnancy.

A birth defect lawyer can assist families get compensation for the future and present medical expenses related to the disability or injury in addition to loss of earnings and the quality of life. This can include doctor's, hospital prescription, pharmaceutical, and other expenses, as well assistive devices and treatments.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer can file a lawsuit on behalf of families of children with congenital disabilities that result from the negligence of companies which expose pregnant women to chemicals or drugs that cause birth defects. They are trained to determine the cause of birth defects, so that they can bring a lawsuit against companies who expose pregnant women to teratogens at workplace or at home.

Some of the chemical exposures that lead to birth defects are the fungicides, metals, herbicides and other pesticides. These chemicals are known as teratogens due to their impact on the development of the fetus by producing chemical changes that block normal cell function, or can cause malformed organs. These chemicals are present in various settings, including manufacturing of semiconductors, metal cleaning and paint production.

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

Parents have filed lawsuits against various companies involved in exposing the families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawyers have obtained substantial settlements on behalf of families who had their children born with severe birth defects because of exposure to toxic chemicals at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Certain birth defects may be caused by a combination between medical negligence and environmental conditions. If a family is concerned that their child's birth defect may be due to medical malpractice, prescription drug overdose or exposure to toxic chemicals, they should contact an DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the matter.

Chemicals and other contaminants in the environment can cause birth defects of a serious nature when they are consumed by or absorbed by pregnant women. Teratogens are the names given to these substances. More than 4 million chemicals exist in our air, food and water, and some of them could be harmful if they come into contact with pregnant women.

For instance, arsenic in drinking water and cadmium from coal that is contaminated may cause a variety of birth defects, as well as other health issues. Industrial solvents such as trichloroethylene, toluene, and benzene (a metal degreaser) are also associated with certain birth defects. Glycol ethers, which are used in the production of silicon chips, semiconductors and video displays are well-known to increase the risk of birth defects too.

LK's highly experienced birth defect law firms defect lawyers have brought numerous lawsuits on behalf of children who suffered from a myriad of birth defects resulting from unintentional exposure to toxic chemicals and chemicals at work or at home. These lawsuits typically require complicated scientific analysis and experts, such as toxicologists and epidemiologists, geneticists, embryologists and occupational medicine experts.