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. Medical bills, therapy costs and other expenses can quickly increase.

A Hyattsville birth defect lawyer could help you file an appeal to receive compensation for the costs of taking care of your child with disabilities. A legal claim for birth defects could be complicated, and you should seek legal counsel as soon as you can.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must adhere to a certain standard when treating pregnant women or their infants. A doctor could be held accountable for damages when their actions cause birth defects or injuries. A DC lawyer who is experienced in birth defect lawsuits can help you determine whether your child's health condition may be due to an error made by the medical professional during pregnancy or delivery.

A doctor can also be held liable for birth injuries if they fail to diagnose fetal distress or do not respond appropriately. This can lead to a range of serious issues, such as hypoxic ischemic disorder (HIE) and brain injuries such as cerebral palsy.

Birth injuries differ from birth defects in that they are caused by events during pregnancy, delivery or labor. The causes of injuries include conditions like Erb's Palsy which develops when the nerves that stimulate and control an infant's arms are stretched or torn during the birth process and caput succedaneum, a swelling of the scalp. Both can result in a permanent disability and ongoing treatment will cost a lot of money. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer can provide a free initial consultation to analyze your situation and determine the best course of action for you and your child.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect lawyer may be able to assist parents determine the cause of a child's birth injury or defect. Many birth defects are caused by genetics or factors during pregnancy. However, certain medications can also cause birth defect attorney defects. A variety of common medications can have a significant effect on fetuses, especially in the first trimester of pregnancy. Anti-nausea medicines, NSAIDs and chemotherapy medications are among the most frequently used. These drugs have been found to increase the risk of limb and brain defects, heart defects, and craniosynostois.

The duty of a doctor is to take into consideration these risks when prescribing medication for pregnant women. If doctors fail to meet this standard of care, they could be liable for medical negligence. Pharmaceutical companies could be held accountable for not adequately warning mothers about the risks associated with their products. Zofran is a medication that is used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been shown to increase the risk of major defects in the first trimester pregnancy.

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

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer could bring a lawsuit on behalf of families of children who have congenital disabilities because of the negligence of companies which expose pregnant women and drugs that can cause birth defects. These lawyers are specially-trained to determine the reason for birth defects, so that they can bring a suit against companies that expose pregnant women to teratogens either at work or at home.

Metals, fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides are just a few of the chemicals that can cause birth defects. These chemicals are referred to as teratogens, because they can affect the healthy development a foetus by causing chemical changes that lead to abnormal organs or prevent normal cell function. These chemicals can be found in a variety of settings, including metal cleaning and semiconductor manufacturing.

Other hazardous chemicals that could cause birth defects are aliphatic hydrocarbons with aliphatic chlorinated chemistry such as perchloroethylene (trichloroethylene), trichloroethylene ( dichloroethane. These chemicals are known to cause cardiac birth defects in babies born to mothers who were exposed in the womb.

Parents have filed lawsuits against several firms that were responsible for exposing the families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawsuit defects lawyers have won substantial settlements for families who had children born with severe birth defects due to the exposure to toxic chemicals at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Certain birth defects may be caused by a combination between medical negligence and environmental factors. If a family believes the birth defect in their child could result from medical negligence, prescription drug abuse or exposure to harmful chemicals, they should contact an DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the situation.

If pregnant women ingest or absorb contaminants from the surrounding environment they could develop serious birth defects. These substances are known as teratogens. More than 4 million chemicals can be found in our food, air and water. Certain of these chemicals are harmful to pregnant women.

For instance, arsenic in drinking water and cadmium in coal that has been contaminated can trigger numerous birth defects, as well as other health problems. Certain birth defects are linked to industrial solvents like benzene (a metal degreaser) and toluene (a solvent for plastics) and trichloroethylene. Glycol ethers, used in the production of silicon chips, semiconductors and video displays, are well-known to increase the chances of having birth defects as well.

LK's skilled birth defect attorneys have brought many lawsuits on behalf of children suffering from a variety of birth defects resulting from improper exposure to chemicals and toxic substances at work or at home. These lawsuits require complex scientific analyses and Birth expert witnesses, such as toxicologists and epidemiologists.