Milo Beliveau спросил 3 месяца назад
Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Lawyer
If your child was born with a birth deformity it can be devastating for your family as well as you. Medical bills, therapy costs and other losses can quickly become a burden.
A Hyattsville birth defect lawyer could assist you in filing an appeal to receive compensation for the cost of caring for your child with disabilities. Legal claims for birth defects can be a little tangled and it is essential to seek legal advice as soon as you can.
Medical Malpractice
Medical professionals must follow a set of guidelines when treating pregnant women and their babies. When a doctor’s actions are not in line with this standard and cause an injury or birth defect, they can be held liable 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 could be the result of an error in medical care during pregnancy or delivery.
A doctor may be held accountable for birth injuries if they fail to diagnose fetal distress or are unable to respond in a timely manner. This could lead to many serious problems like hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and hypoxic encephalopathy like cerebral palsy.
Birth injuries differ from birth defects because they are caused by circumstances during pregnancy, delivery or labor. Injuries can include conditions such as Erb’s palsy which develops when the nerves that power and control the arms of an infant are stretched or torn during birth as well as caput succedaneum which is a swelling of the scalp. Both of them can lead to lifelong disability and require ongoing treatment, resulting in large medical bills. A Washington, DC birth defect lawyer will provide a no-cost initial consultation to examine your situation and determine the best course of action for you and your child.
Prescription Drugs
A birth defect lawyer may be able help parents determine the root cause of the birth injury of a child. While many birth defects are due to genetics and other factors that occur during the pregnancy of a mother however, they may also occur as a result of medications. A variety of common medications can have a significant impact on fetuses especially during the first trimester of a pregnancy. This includes anti-nausea medication, NSAIDs, chemotherapy medications, certain antibiotics, and many more. These drugs have been proven to increase the risk of limb and brain deformities, heart defects and craniosynostosis.
It is the responsibility of a doctor to consider the risks when prescribing medication for women who are pregnant. If doctors do not meet this standard of care they could be liable for medical negligence. Pharma companies could also be held accountable for not properly informing mothers of the risks associated with their medication. For example, Zofran, a medication used to treat nausea in cancer patients, has been shown to significantly increase the risk of congenital defects that are major in the first trimester of a pregnancy.
A birth defect lawyer can assist families get compensation for future and current medical expenses related to the disability or injury as well as loss of earnings and the quality of life. This could include hospital fees medical expenses, doctor’s fees and pharmaceutical costs, and other expenses, in addition to assistive devices, and therapy.
Chemical Exposure
A birth defect lawyer may bring a lawsuit on behalf of families of children with congenital disabilities as a result of the negligence of companies who expose pregnant women to chemicals and drugs that can cause birth deformities. They are trained to identify the cause of birth defects, so that they can bring a lawsuit against companies that expose pregnant women to teratogens at work or in their home.
Metals, fungicides and herbicides as well as pesticides are some of the chemicals that can cause birth defects. These chemicals are known as teratogens due to the fact that they influence the healthy development of a the fetus via chemical changes that can cause abnormal organs or hinder normal cell function. These chemicals can be found in many different situations, such as semiconductor manufacturing and metal cleaning.
Other dangerous chemicals that may cause birth defects are aliphatic hydrocarbons with aliphatic chlorinated chemistry such as perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene or dichloroethane. These chemicals have been shown to cause birth problems, including cardiac disorders, in babies born to mothers who were exposed to them while 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 these birth defects lawyers have won substantial settlements for families who have children who were born with severe defects resulting from the toxic chemical exposures on the base.
Environmental Exposure
Some birth defects are caused by a combination of medical negligence and environmental factors. If a family believes that the birth defect in their child could be due to medical malpractice, prescription drug overdose or exposure to harmful chemicals, they should speak with a DC birth injury lawyer to discuss the situation.
If pregnant women consume or absorb contaminants from their environment they could develop serious birth defects. Teratogens are the names given to these chemicals. More than 4 million chemicals can be found in our air, food and water. Certain of these chemicals can be harmful to pregnant women.
Arsenic in drinking water or cadmium in contaminated coal for instance, could cause birth defects as well as other health issues. Certain birth defects are also linked to industrial solvents like benzene (a metal degreaser) as well as toluene (a solvent for plastics) and trichloroethylene. Glycol-ethers also increase the risk of birth defects among women. These chemicals are used for the manufacture of semiconductors display devices, silicon chip displays and video displays.
LK’s experienced birth defect attorneys have brought many lawsuits on behalf of children who suffer from a range of birth defects resulting from wrongful toxic and chemical exposure at workplaces or in their homes. These lawsuits usually involve a complicated scientific analysis and expert witnesses, including toxicologists and epidemiologists, geneticists, occupational medicine specialists and embryologists.