Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child is born with a birth defect, it can have a devastating effect on you and your entire family. Medical bills, therapy costs and other losses can quickly increase.

A Hyattsville lawyer that specializes in birth defects may be able to help you seek compensation to cover the costs of taking care of your disabled children. A legal claim for birth defects could be complex, so you should seek legal counsel as soon as possible.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must follow an appropriate standard of care when treating pregnant women and their babies. A doctor could be held liable for damages if their actions result in iowa city birth defect law firm defects or injuries. A DC lawyer who has experience in lawsuits for birth defects can help you determine if your child's illness could be due to an error made by the medical professional during pregnancy or the birth.

A doctor could also be held responsible for birth injuries if they fail to detect fetal distress or don't respond appropriately. This can cause a number of serious issues, including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and brain injuries like cerebral palsy.

Birth injuries differ from birth defects in that they are caused by events during pregnancy, birth, or labor. 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 caput succedaneum - an increase in the size of the scalp. Both of these can cause permanent disability and require ongoing treatment, which can result in significant medical bills. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer can offer a no-cost initial consultation to analyze your case and determine the most appropriate method of action for you and your child.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect lawyer could be able to assist parents identify the cause of the child's birth injury or defect. While many birth defects are due to genetics and factors during the mother's pregnancy however, they can also be caused as a result of medications. A number of commonly used medications have a profound effect on fetuses, especially in the first trimester of pregnancy. Anti-nausea medicines, NSAIDs and chemotherapy drugs are among the most popular. These drugs have been shown to increase the risk of developing limb and brain defects, heart defects, and craniosynostois.

It is the professional responsibility of doctors to consider these risks when prescribing medications for pregnant women. When doctors fail to meet the requirements of this standard of care, they could be liable for medical malpractice. Pharma companies could also be held responsible for not properly informing mothers about the dangers of their medication. For instance, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been proven to significantly increase the risk of serious congenital defects during the first trimester of a pregnancy.

An attorney who specializes in birth defects can assist a family in obtaining compensation for medical expenses, income loss and quality of life. This could include hospital expenses medical expenses, doctor's fees and pharmaceutical costs and norton birth defect law firm other expenses as well as assistive devices and therapy.

Chemical Exposure

A birth defect lawyer may bring a lawsuit on behalf of families of children who suffer from congenital disabilities that result from the negligence of companies who expose pregnant women chemicals or drugs that cause birth defects. These lawyers are specially trained to discover the reason for the Norton Birth Defect Law Firm defect so that they can file a lawsuit against companies who expose mothers to teratogens as they are at work or in their home.

Some of the chemical exposures that can lead to birth defects are the fungicides, metals, herbicides and other pesticides. These chemicals are known as teratogens due to their impact on the growth of the fetus producing chemical changes that block normal cell function, or can cause organs that are not properly formed. These chemicals are present in a variety environments, including semiconductor manufacturing and metal cleaning.

Other hazardous chemicals that could cause birth defects are aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene and dichloroethane. These chemicals are known to cause birth defects in the heart in babies born to mothers exposed during their time in the womb.

Parents have filed lawsuits in order to make companies accountable for the families of soldiers who live at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to harmful chemicals. Some of the birth defect lawyers have obtained substantial settlements on behalf of families whose children were born with severe defects because of the toxic chemical exposures at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Some birth defects can be caused by the combination of medical negligence as well as environmental conditions or chemicals. If a family believes that the birth defect in their child could be due to medical negligence, prescription drug overdose or exposure to harmful chemicals, they should contact an DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the matter.

If pregnant women ingest or absorb contaminants from their environment and then develop birth defects. These substances are referred to as Teratogens. Over 4 million chemicals exist in our air, food and water and a few can be harmful if they come into contact with a woman who is pregnant.

Arsenic in drinking waters or cadmium found in coal that has been contaminated for instance, can cause birth defects and other health problems. Certain birth defects are caused by industrial solvents such as benzene (a metal degreaser) as well as toluene (a solvent for plastics) and trichloroethylene. Glycol ethers that are used in the manufacture of semiconductors, silicon chips and video displays are well-known to increase the chance of having birth defects too.

The experienced lawyers at LK for birth defects have filed many lawsuits in the name of children who suffered from a variety of birth defects due to accidental exposure to toxic chemicals or chemicals at work or at home. These lawsuits typically require an extensive scientific analysis as well as expert witnesses, including toxicologists or epidemiologists, geneticists occupational medicine experts, and embryologists.