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 expenses can quickly add up.

A Hyattsville birth defect lawyer can help you file claim for compensation for the expenses of caring for your child with disabilities. Legal claims for birth defects are complicated, so it is important to seek legal advice whenever you can.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals are required to adhere to a certain standard when treating pregnant women or their infants. When a doctor's actions fall below this standard and result in a birth defect or injury and/or death, they may be held accountable for the injuries suffered by their patient. A DC lawyer with experience in lawsuits involving birth defects will help you determine if your child's health condition may be the result of an error made by a doctor during the pregnancy or delivery.

A doctor could also be the cause of a birth injury when they fail to diagnose or adequately respond to fetal distress. This could lead to a number serious problems including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy as well as brain injuries such as cerebral palsy.

The difference between birth defects and birth injury is that defects are a part of a person's genetic make-up and injuries are triggered by an event that occurs during labor, pregnancy, or Grambling Birth Defect Attorney. A possible injury is Erb's spalsy, where the nerves controlling the infant's limbs and arms are stretched or torn. Another form of injury is the caput succedaneum, an inflammation of the scalp. Both can lead to a permanent disability, and continued treatment can cost a significant amount of money. A Washington, DC lawyer who is specialized in birth defects will offer a free consultation in order to examine your case and determine the best course of action for you and your baby.

Prescription Drugs

A waverly birth defect lawyer defect lawyer may be able to help parents determine the cause of the child's birth injury or defect. Many birth defects result from genetics or factors during pregnancy. However, certain medications can also cause birth defects. Many common medications have a profound effect on fetuses especially during the first trimester of a pregnancy. They include anti-nausea medicines, NSAIDs, chemotherapy drugs such as certain antibiotics and many more. These drugs have been found to increase the risk of developing limb and brain deformities, heart defects, and craniosynostosis.

A doctor's duty is to take into consideration these risks when prescribing medication for pregnant women. When doctors fail to meet the requirements of this standard of care, they could be held accountable for medical negligence. Pharmaceutical companies could be held liable as well for not adequately warning mothers of the risks associated with their products. For example, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been demonstrated to significantly increase the risk of major congenital problems in the first trimester of a pregnancy.

A birth defect lawyer can assist a family in obtaining compensation for medical expenses, loss of income and quality of life. This could include hospital fees, doctor's fees, pharmaceutical costs, and other expenses, as well assistive devices and therapy.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer can file an action 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 determine the reason for birth defects, so that they can bring a case against companies that expose pregnant women to teratogens either at work or at home.

Metals, fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides are among the chemicals that can cause birth defects. These chemicals are known as Teratogens as they interfere with the healthy development of the fetus by creating chemical changes that hinder normal cell function, or can cause organs to be malformed. These chemicals are used in many different settings, including manufacturing of semiconductors, cleaning of metals and paint production.

Other harmful chemicals that could cause birth defects are aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene and dichloroethane. These chemicals have been proven to cause birth problems, including cardiac defects, in babies born to mothers who were exposed to them during the womb.

Parents have filed lawsuits against several firms that were responsible for 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 serious defects as a result of the toxic chemical exposures at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Certain birth defects can be caused by an unintended medical error and environmental factors or chemicals. If a family is concerned that the birth defect of their child could be the result of medical malpractice, prescription drug overdose or exposure to harmful chemicals, they should speak with a DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the matter.

Chemicals and other substances in the environment can cause serious birth defects when they are consumed by or taken in by pregnant women. Teratogens are the name for these substances. More than 4 million chemicals can be found in our food, air and water. Some of these chemicals may be dangerous to pregnant women.

Arsenic from drinking water or cadmium in coal that has been contaminated for instance, could cause birth defects as well as other health issues. Certain birth defects are also caused by industrial solvents such as benzene (a metal degreaser) as well as toluene (a solvent for plastics) and trichloroethylene. Glycol-ethers, which are used in the production of silicon chips, semiconductors and video displays are recognized to increase a woman's risk of developing birth defects.

The experienced lawyers at LK for birth defects have filed many lawsuits in the name of children who suffered from a variety of birth defects as a result of accidental exposure to toxic chemicals or chemicals at their workplace or home. These lawsuits usually involve a an extensive scientific analysis as well as expert witnesses, including toxicologists and epidemiologists, geneticists, occupational medicine experts, and embryologists.