Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child was born with an anomaly in the birth, it can have a devastating effect on you and your family. The cost of therapy, medical bills and other losses can quickly add up.

A Hyattsville lawyer that specializes in birth defects could help to file a claim for compensation to cover the costs of caring for your disabled children. A legal claim for birth defects can be complex, so you should consult a lawyer immediately.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must adhere to an appropriate standard of care when treating pregnant women and their infants. If a doctor's actions are not in line with this standard and result in birth defects or injuries, they can be held accountable for the damages sustained by their patient. A DC lawyer with experience in lawsuits involving birth defects will help you determine if your child's condition may be the result of an error made by the medical professional during pregnancy or delivery.

A doctor could also be the cause of an injury that occurs during birth if they fail to recognize or respond adequately to fetal distress. This could lead to many serious problems like hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and hypoxic encephalopathy like cerebral palsy.

The distinction between birth defects and birth injury is that defects are part of a person's genetic makeup, while injuries are caused by an event that occurs during labor, pregnancy or during delivery. Injury can include Erb's Palsy where the nerves that control the infant's arms and limbs are stretched or torn. Another type of injury is called caput succedaneum. It's a swelling on the scalp. Both of them can cause permanent disability and require ongoing treatment, resulting in hefty medical costs. A Washington, DC lawyer who specializes in birth defects can provide a no-cost consultation to examine your case and decide on the best course for you and your baby.

Prescription Drugs

An attorney for birth defects may be able help parents determine the cause for an infant's birth injury. While many birth defects are caused by the genetics of the mother's pregnancy however, they can also be caused due to medications. Certain common medications have a significant effect on fetuses, especially in the first trimester of pregnancy. Anti-nausea drugs, NSAIDs, and chemotherapy drugs are among the most popular. These medications have been proven to increase the risk of limb and heart defects, brain deformities and craniosynostois.

The duty of a doctor is to take into consideration the risks when prescribing medications for pregnant women. If doctors fail to adhere to the requirements of this standard of care, Birth Defects they could be held accountable for medical negligence. Pharmaceutical companies can be held liable as well for not adequately warning mothers of the dangers associated with their medicines. For example, Zofran, Birth Defects a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been proven to significantly increase the risk of major congenital problems in the first trimester of pregnancy.

An attorney for birth defects can assist a family in obtaining compensation for medical expenses, income loss and quality of living. This could include hospital fees, doctor's fees, pharmaceutical costs, and other expenses, in addition to assistive devices, and therapy.

Chemical Exposure

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

Some of the chemical exposures that can lead to birth defect attorney defects include the fungicides, metals, herbicides and other pesticides. These chemicals are called teratogens, because they can interfere with the normal development of a fetus through chemical changes that cause abnormal organs or hinder normal cell function. These chemicals are present in a variety of settings including the manufacturing of semiconductors, metal cleaning and paint production.

Other harmful chemicals that could cause birth defects include aliphatic cyaninated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene and 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 various companies who were responsible for exposing the families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawyers have won substantial settlements on behalf families who had their children born with severe birth defects because of the toxic chemical exposures at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Some birth defects are caused by an unintended medical error and environmental conditions or chemical. If a family suspects that a child's birth defects may be due to medical negligence or prescription drug overdose or exposure to harmful chemical, they should consult a DC birth injury attorney to discuss their case.

Chemicals and other substances in the environment can cause serious birth defects if they are ingested or taken in by pregnant women. Teratogens are the name for these chemicals. More than 4 million chemicals exist in our food, air and water Some of them can be harmful if they come into contact with pregnant women.

For example, arsenic in drinking water and cadmium from coal that is contaminated can cause a variety of birth defects and other health issues. Industrial solvents such as benzene toluene and trichloroethylene (a metal degreaser) are also linked with certain birth defects. Glycol-ethers are also known for their ability to increase the risk of birth defects in women. These chemicals are used for the manufacture of semiconductors display panels, silicon chip displays, and video displays.

LK's experienced birth defect attorneys have filed a variety of lawsuits on behalf of children suffering from a wide range of birth defects caused by unintentional exposure to toxic chemicals and chemicals at work or in their homes. These lawsuits typically involve sophisticated scientific analysis and experts, such as toxicologists or epidemiologists, geneticists occupational medicine experts and embryologists.