Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child was born with a birth defect it can cause a lot of grief for your family and you. Medical bills, therapy costs and birth defect lawsuit other losses can quickly add up.

A Hyattsville lawyer with a specialization in birth defects could help you seek compensation for the cost of caring for your child with disabilities. Legal claims for birth defects are complex, so it is important to seek legal advice as soon as you can.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must adhere to a certain standard when treating pregnant women or their babies. A doctor can be held liable for damages when their actions cause birth defects or injuries. A DC lawyer who has experience in birth defect lawsuits can assist you in determining whether your child's condition may be the result of an error made by a doctor during pregnancy or during delivery.

A doctor could also be responsible for a birth injury when they fail to identify or appropriately respond to distress of the fetus. This can result in a variety of serious issues, such as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and brain injuries, such as 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 issues like Erb's syndrome which develops when the nerves which energize and control the arms of an infant are stretched or ruptured during birth, and caput succedaneum, a swelling of the scalp. Both can result in a lifelong disability, and ongoing treatment will cost a lot of money. A Washington, DC lawyer who is skilled in birth defects can offer a free consultation in order to look over your case and determine the most appropriate course for you and your baby.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect lawyer might be able to help parents determine the cause for a child's birth injury. Many birth defects result from the genetics of the baby or other factors during pregnancy. However, certain medications can also cause birth defects. Certain common medications have a significant effect on fetuses, especially in the first trimester of pregnancy. These include anti-nausea medications and NSAIDs as well as chemotherapy medications such as certain antibiotics and many more. These drugs have been linked to an increased risk of limb defects and heart defects, brain defects and craniosynostois.

The duty of a doctor is to consider these risks when prescribing medication for pregnant women. If doctors do not meet this standard of care they could be held accountable for medical malpractice. Pharmaceutical companies could be held liable as well for not adequately warning mothers of the risks associated with their drugs. For example, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been shown to significantly increase the risk of major congenital problems in the first trimester of a pregnancy.

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

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer can file a lawsuit on behalf of families of children who suffer from congenital disabilities because from the negligence of companies which expose pregnant women and medications that cause birth defects. These lawyers are specially trained to determine the root of the birth Defect lawsuit defect so that they can bring a lawsuit against companies that expose mothers to teratogens when they work or in their homes.

Metals, fungicides herbicides and pesticides are among the chemicals that can cause birth defects. These chemicals are known as teratogens, because they can influence the healthy development of a fetus through chemical changes that lead to abnormal organs, or disrupt normal cell function. These chemicals are present in many different settings, including semiconductor manufacturing, metal cleaning and paint production.

Other harmful chemicals that could cause birth defects are aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene or dichloroethane. These chemicals have been known to cause birth defects, including cardiac defects in babies born to mothers exposed to them while 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 lawyers have secured significant settlements for families that had children born with severe defects due to the toxic chemical exposures at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Certain birth defects may be caused by a combination of medical negligence and environmental factors. If a family is concerned that the birth defect of their child could result from medical negligence, prescription drug abuse or exposure to toxic chemicals, they should contact an DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the issue.

If pregnant women inhale or absorb contaminants from the environment and then develop birth defects. Teratogens are the names given to these chemicals. More than 4 million chemicals are present in our air, food and water, and some of them are harmful if they come into contact with a woman who is pregnant.

Arsenic in drinking waters or cadmium in contaminated coal for instance, can cause birth defects and other health issues. Industrial solvents like trichloroethylene, toluene, and benzene (a metal degreaser) are also linked to certain birth defects. Glycol-ethers are also known to increase the risk of birth defects among women. These chemicals are used for the manufacture of semiconductors, silicon chip displays and video displays.

LK's experienced birth defect attorneys have filed a variety of lawsuits on behalf of children who suffered from a variety of birth defects as a result of improper exposure to chemicals and birth defect lawsuit toxic substances at work or in their homes. These lawsuits typically require sophisticated scientific analysis and experts, such as toxicologists or epidemiologists, geneticists occupational medicine experts and embryologists.