When A Prescribed Drug Causes Birth Defects

Certain medications can result in birth defects in babies. For this reason, physicians must take great care whenever prescribing medications to a pregnant soon-to-be mother. In most cases, a birth defect case related to medication will target the treating physician, pharmacist or drug company responsible for providing or prescribing the damaging medication to the mother while she was pregnant.

It’s tragic to think that a baby could live his or her life with an entirely unnecessarily birth defect because of negligence on the part of a physician, pharmacist or hospital. Nevertheless, when this happens, parents may be able to pursue compensation in court.

When can parents prevail in a medication-related birth defect case?

Here is what a medication error or defective drug case relating to a birth defect will require:

• The mother took the drug in question while she was pregnant.
• A physician, pharmacist or health care provider prescribed the medication to the mother and she used the medication in accordance with the prescription.
• The birth injury was not the result of heredity, genetics, disease or another reason.
• The drug has a history of causing such birth defects, or the plaintiff can prove that it caused birth defects.
• The drug caused birth defect.

Example of a medication-related birth defect case

There are countless drugs that doctors have discovered cause birth defects in unborn babies. An example of one is a drug that doctors were prescribing for morning sickness called Zofran. This anti-nausea drug primarily used for cancer patients can create a host of birth defects for a developing fetus, including congenital heart problems, orofacial and septal defects, malformed kidneys and stillbirths.

Was your baby born with a serious birth defect?

If your baby was born with a serious birth defect, it’s important that you get to the bottom of why. If the reason relates to a problematic medication a doctor prescribed, you may want to look deeper into your legal rights and options. The doctor could be financially liable to pay for your baby’s medical care, pain and suffering, and other damages.