Why You Should Hire a Birth Defect Attorney

Learning your child has a birth defect can turn the joy of parenthood into a painful experience. Most birth defects require lifelong medical treatment, which could cause a huge financial burden.

A New York birth defect attorney will determine if your child's illness was caused by negligence in the medical field or hazardous chemicals or drugs.

Causes of Birth Defects

If your child has an anomaly in their birth that could have been avoided by an expert medical professional, you should contact a Long Island birth defects attorney as soon as you can. A reputable lawyer can take care of the previous steps swiftly and efficiently, so that you can take time to grieve for the loss of your family member.

Birth defects can affect every part of a fetus. They can cause physical issues or intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as trouble communicating or learning, or difficulties with physical activities such as walking or taking care of oneself.

Some birth defects can be diagnosed before the baby is born through special tests, such as analysing the cells in a blood sample or by examining samples of amniotic fluid or the placenta. Doctors can diagnose birth defects with ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging.

Certain birth defects are caused through genetic factors like abnormalities of a fetus’s chromosomes and genes. These abnormalities can be inherited from parents or by mutations in the DNA of the fetus before conception. Some of the most common genetic birth defects include trisomy 21, spina Bifida and Tay-Sachs's disease. Other genetic birth defects have no known cause in any way.

Medical Malpractice

If you or your child has suffered an injury from an error made by a doctor, or other health healthcare professional, you may have a claim based on medical malpractice. This can include failure to treat or diagnose, including a doctor not taking your symptoms seriously, or making a false diagnosis and not starting the appropriate treatment or not following up on the results of tests or medication mistakes (e.g. anesthesia mistakes like giving excessive or the wrong kind of medication) and surgical mistakes (e.g. the surgeon leaving a retractor blade in the patient during surgery).

Finding an attorney with experience in malpractice suits can be difficult. However you can get recommendations from your family and friends and also attorneys in other fields. You can also reach out to your state bar association. Bar associations generally have search and referral tools to help you find a qualified medical malpractice attorney.

Chemical Exposure

Sometimes, birth defects result from exposure to harmful chemicals that affect the mother or fetus. Many of these chemicals are employed in workplaces where they are used to manufacture products like plastics paint, batteries, and ceramic glazes. These chemicals are ingested through inhalation, ingestion or simply absorbed through the skin. Certain of these toxins are known to increase the risk for a child developing a birth defect such as spina-bifida or other psychological and physical disorders.

These teratogen chemicals can be found in medicines that doctors have erroneously prescribed, in chemicals used at work such as those in semiconductor "clean rooms" or in toxic substances which contaminate air and water. The Thornton Law Firm has represented parents whose children were born with serious birth defects after the mothers were exposed to glycol ethers as well as pesticides and coal ash at their workplace.

Contact an experienced New York birth injury lawyer for a no-cost consultation today should you suspect that your child's birth defects were caused by medical negligence, toxic substance or a dangerous drug during pregnancy. These claims are extremely urgent and subject to strict deadlines for filing. An experienced attorney can determine whether a child is entitled to make claims, and also if it should be filed through the court system or through a settlement agreement.

Product Liability

Many birth defects are the result of an wrong prescription or exposure to chemicals. It is important for parents to speak with a birth defect attorney immediately when they suspect that their child's condition was due to medical negligence or the use of dangerous drugs. These cases can be extremely complex and sensitive to time.

Medical malpractice claims often involve the underlying cause of birth defect that is caused by environmental factors, such as exposure to chemicals or environmental toxins as well as improperly prescribed medications or birth defect lawsuit drugs or inadequate prenatal care. It is imperative for families to seek legal help as soon as possible as the time limit for a medical malpractice case is only one year.

A medication birth defect lawsuit could also be filed if the doctor was negligent in prescribing medications to a mother. For instance the doctor failed to understand the interaction of a drug with other medications that the woman is taking or did not adequately inform her about its potential side effects. A Maryland attorney who specializes in medical birth defects can assist clients to recover damages when a doctor is negligent and causes birth injuries or birth defect.

A newborn with a severe birth defect could be required to pay for a hefty amount of surgical, medical, and therapy throughout the child's life. A skilled and experienced birth defect lawyer can assist parents determine if the child's medical condition was the result of medical malpractice or a dangerous drug exposure to toxic substances.