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 losses can quickly mount up.

A Hyattsville birth defect lawyer could help you file an appeal to receive compensation for the expenses of caring for your disabled child. Legal claims for birth defects can be a little tangled, so it is important to seek legal advice immediately.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals are required to adhere to a standard of care when treating pregnant women or their babies. If the actions of a doctor are in violation of this standard and result in keller Birth defect law firm defects or injuries the doctor could be held accountable for the damages sustained by their patient. A DC lawyer who is experienced in lawsuits for birth defects can help you determine if your child's condition may have been caused by an error made by a doctor during pregnancy or during delivery.

A doctor could also be held accountable for birth injuries if they fail to recognize fetal distress and don't respond appropriately. This can cause a number of serious issues, including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (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. Injuries can result from conditions such as Erb's palsy which develops when the nerves which energize and control the arms of a newborn are stretched or torn during birth, and caput succedaneum, an increase in the size of the scalp. Both of these conditions can lead to lifelong disability and require ongoing treatment, resulting in large medical bills. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer can offer a no-cost initial consultation to examine your situation and determine the best method of action for you and your child.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect attorney may be able help parents determine the cause for the birth injury of a child. Many birth defects result from genes or other factors that occur during pregnancy. However, certain medications can also cause birth defects. A variety of common medications can have a negative impact on fetuses. This is particularly applicable in the early months of pregnancy. These include anti-nausea medications such as NSAIDs, chemotherapy medicines, certain antibiotics, and many more. These medications have been linked with an increased chance of limb deformities, brain defects, heart defects and craniosynostois.

The duty of a doctor is to take into account the risks when prescribing medications for women who are pregnant. If doctors fail to adhere to this standard of care, then they could be held accountable for negligence. Pharmaceutical companies can be held accountable for not adequately informing mothers of the risks associated with their medications. Zofran is a drug used to treat nausea in cancer patients, was shown to increase the risk of major defects during the first trimester pregnancies.

An attorney who specializes in birth defects can help a family get compensation for medical expenses, income loss and quality of life. This could include hospital costs physician's fees, pharmaceutical costs, lawyers and other expenses, along with assistive devices and therapy.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer may bring a lawsuit for parents of children with congenital disabilities as a result of the negligence of businesses who expose pregnant women to chemicals and other drugs that cause birth defects. These lawyers are specially trained to find out the cause of the birth defect, so they can file a lawsuit against companies that expose mothers to teratogens during the time they work or at their homes.

Some of the chemical exposures that can lead to birth defects are the fungicides, metals, herbicides and other pesticides. These chemicals are referred to as Teratogens since they interfere with the normal development of a foetus by causing chemical changes that can cause abnormal organs or hinder normal cell function. These chemicals can be found in a variety of environments, including the manufacturing of semiconductors and cleaning of metals.

Other hazardous chemicals that could cause birth defects are aliphatic hydrocarbons with aliphatic chlorinated chemistry such as perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene and dichloroethane. These chemicals have been proven to cause cardiac birth defects in babies born to mothers exposed in the womb.

Parents have filed lawsuits to hold companies accountable for the families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina exposed to harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawyers have gotten substantial settlements on behalf families whose children were born with serious defects as a result 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 suspects that the birth defects of a baby could be due to medical negligence, prescription drug overdose, or exposure to harmful chemicals such as benzene, they should seek out a DC birth injury lawyer to discuss their case.

If pregnant women ingest or absorb pollutants from the environment They could cause serious birth defects. These chemicals are referred to as Teratogens. More than 4 million chemicals are found in our food, air and water. Certain of these chemicals can be harmful to pregnant women.

Arsenic from drinking water or cadmium from coal that is contaminated, for example, can cause waterford birth defect lawyer defects as well as other health problems. Industrial solvents, such as benzene, toluene and trichloroethylene (a metal degreaser) are also linked with certain birth defects. Glycol ethers, utilized in the production of semiconductors, silicon chips and video displays, are well-known to increase the risk of developing birth defects too.

The experienced lawyers at LK for birth defects have filed a variety of lawsuits in behalf of children who suffered from a variety of birth defects due to accidental exposure to toxic chemicals or chemicals at their workplace or home. These lawsuits are based on complex scientific analyses and expert witnesses like toxicologists and epidemiologists.