Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child is born with a birth deformity this can have a devastating effect on the entire family. Medical bills, therapy expenses and other losses can quickly mount up.

A Hyattsville birth defect lawyer could assist you in filing a claim to recover reimbursement for the costs of caring for your child with disabilities. Legal claims for birth defects are a bit nebulous, so it is important to seek legal advice immediately.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must follow the highest standards of care when treating pregnant women and their babies. A doctor could be held accountable for damages if their actions result in birth defects or injuries. A DC lawyer with experience in birth defect lawsuits can assist you in determining whether your child's health issue was caused by a medical mistake during pregnancy or during delivery.

A doctor could also be held responsible for birth injuries if they fail to diagnose fetal distress or are unable to respond in a timely manner. 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 the sense that they are caused by events during pregnancy, delivery or labor. Injuries can result from ailments like Erb's palsy which is caused when the nerves which energize and control the infant's arms are stretched or damaged during birth as well as caput succedaneum which is a swelling of the scalp. Both of these could lead to lifelong disability and require ongoing treatment, which can result in significant medical bills. A Washington, DC lawyer who is an expert in birth defects may offer a free consultation to examine your case and determine the most appropriate course for you and your baby.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect lawyer could be able to help parents determine the cause of a child's birth injury, or defect. While many birth defects are caused by genetics and factors during the pregnancy of a mother but they can also happen because of medications. A number of commonly used medications have a significant impact on fetuses, especially in the first trimester of a pregnancy. Anti-nausea medicines, NSAIDs and chemotherapy medications are among the most commonly used. These medications have been proven to increase the risk of limb and brain deformities, heart defects, and craniosynostois.

The duty of a doctor is to consider the risks when prescribing medications for women who are pregnant. If doctors fail to follow this standard of care, then they could be held accountable for negligence. Pharmaceutical companies could be held liable as well for not properly warning mothers about the risks associated with their medicines. Zofran is a drug used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been found to increase the risk of major defects in the first trimester pregnancies.

An attorney who specializes in birth defects can assist a family to obtain compensation for medical expenses, income loss and quality of life. This can include hospital, doctor's pharmaceutical, and other costs, in addition to aidive devices and therapies.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer can bring a lawsuit on behalf of parents of children with congenital disabilities as a result due to the negligence of corporations exposing pregnant women to chemicals and other drugs that cause birth defects. These lawyers are specially trained to determine the cause of birth defects so that they can bring a lawsuit against companies that expose pregnant women to teratogens either at work or at home.

Metals, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides are some of the chemicals that can cause birth defects. These chemicals are referred to as Teratogens as they interfere with the healthy development of the fetus producing chemical changes that block normal cell function or cause malformed organs. These chemicals can be found in a variety of situations, such as semiconductor manufacturing and metal cleaning.

Other harmful chemicals that could cause birth defects are aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as perchloroethylene (trichloroethylene), trichloroethylene ( dichloroethane. These chemicals have been found to cause birth defects, including cardiac defects, in babies born to mothers exposed to them in the womb.

Parents have filed suit against a number of firms that were responsible for the exposure of families of soldiers at Camp Lejeune to these harmful chemicals. Some of the birth defect lawyers have obtained substantial settlements on behalf of families whose children were born with severe birth defects because of exposure to toxic chemicals at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Some birth defects could be caused by a combination between medical negligence and environmental conditions. If a family believes that the birth defect of their child may be the result of medical negligence, prescription drug overdose or exposure to harmful chemicals, they should contact an DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the issue.

If pregnant women ingest or absorb pollutants from the environment They could cause serious birth defects. Teratogens are the term used to describe these chemicals. More than 4 million chemicals are found in our air, food and water and some could be harmful if they come into contact with a woman who is pregnant.

For instance, arsenic found in drinking water, and cadmium from contaminated coal can cause a variety of birth defects as well as other health problems. Industrial solvents, such as trichloroethylene, toluene, and benzene (a metal degreaser) are also linked with certain birth defects. Glycol-ethers also increase the likelihood of birth defects occurring in women. These chemicals are used to manufacture 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 wide range of birth defects caused by improper exposure to chemicals and toxic substances at work or at home. These lawsuits usually involve a sophisticated scientific analysis and experts, such as toxicologists or epidemiologists, geneticists occupational medicine specialists and embryologists.