Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer

If your child is born with a birth deformity it could be devastating for your family and you. Medical bills, therapy costs and other losses can quickly increase.

A Hyattsville lawyer with a specialization in birth defects may be able to help you seek compensation for the costs of taking care of your disabled children. A legal claim for birth defects could be complicated, so you should consult with a legal professional as soon as you can.

Medical Malpractice

Medical professionals must adhere to a certain standard when treating pregnant women or their infants. When a doctor's actions fall below this standard and cause birth defect or injury and/or death, they may be held accountable for injuries suffered by their patient. A DC lawyer who has expertise in lawsuits for birth defects can determine the cause of your child's illness. caused by a medical error during pregnancy or the birth.

A doctor could also be responsible for a birth injury when they fail to diagnose or appropriately respond to distress in the fetus. This could lead to a number serious problems including hypoxic-ischemic neuropathy and brain injuries like cerebral palsy.

Birth injuries differ from birth defects because they are caused by events during pregnancy, delivery, or labor. Injuries can be caused by Erb's palsy which occurs when the nerves that control the infant's arms and legs are stretched or torn. Another type of injury is the caput succedaneum, an increase in the size of the scalp. Both can result in lifelong disability, and ongoing treatment will cost lots of money. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer will provide a no-cost initial consultation to analyze your situation and determine the best way to proceed for you and your child.

Prescription Drugs

A birth defect lawyer might be able to assist parents determine the reason for a child's birth injury, or defect. Many birth defects result from birth defect attorneys defects or genetics. However, certain medications can also cause birth defects. A number of common medications can have a negative impact on foetuses. This is particularly evident in the initial three months of pregnancy. Anti-nausea drugs, NSAIDs, and chemotherapy drugs are among the most common. These drugs have been shown to increase the risk of developing limb and heart defects, brain deformities, and craniosynostois.

It is the responsibility of a doctor to be aware of the potential risks when prescribing medications for pregnant women. If doctors fail to meet this standard of care they could be held accountable for medical malpractice. Pharmaceutical companies could be held accountable for failing to adequately warn mothers about the risks associated with their medications. For example, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been demonstrated to significantly increase the risk of serious congenital defects during the first trimester of a pregnancy.

A birth defect lawyer can help families receive reimbursement for future and ongoing medical expenses associated with the disability or injury and also loss of earnings and the quality of life. This can include hospital costs as well as 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 families of children with congenital disabilities that result from the negligence of companies which expose pregnant women to chemicals or drugs that cause birth defects. They are trained to identify the cause of birth defects, so that they can bring a case against companies that expose pregnant women to teratogens at workplace or at home.

Some of the chemical exposures that contribute to birth defects are metals, fungicides, herbicides and other pesticides. These chemicals are referred to as teratogens due to their impact on the healthy growth of the fetus causing chemical changes that prevent normal cell function or lead to organs that are not properly formed. These chemicals are present in a variety of settings including manufacturing of semiconductors, cleaning of metals and paint production.

Other dangerous chemicals that may cause birth defects are aliphatic chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as perchloroethylene (trichloroethylene), trichloroethylene ( 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 to make companies accountable for the families of soldiers in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to harmful chemicals. Some of these birth defect lawyers have won significant settlements for families who had their children born with severe defects as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals at the base.

Environmental Exposure

Some birth defects are caused by a combination of medical negligence and environmental factors. If a family is concerned that their child's birth defect may result from medical malpractice, prescription drug overdose or exposure to harmful chemicals, they should contact an DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the matter.

Chemicals and other pollutants in the environment can cause serious birth defects when they are consumed by or taken in by pregnant women. These chemicals are called teratogens. More than 4 million chemicals exist in our food, air and water, and some of them can be harmful when they come into contact with a woman who is pregnant.

For instance, arsenic in drinking water as well as cadmium derived from coal that is contaminated can cause a variety of birth defects and other health problems. Certain birth defects can also be associated with industrial solvents like 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.

LK's experienced birth defect attorneys have brought numerous lawsuits on behalf of children suffering from a wide range of birth defects as a result of improper exposure to chemicals and toxic substances at workplaces or at home. These lawsuits typically involve an extensive scientific analysis as well as experts, such as toxicologists and epidemiologists, geneticists, occupational medicine specialists and embryologists.