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Reports linking Zoloft side effects to congenital birth defects have put pregnant women in a quandary over using the antidepressant to improve their mental health. They face the specter of jeopardizing the fetal health in the quest to keep it unaffected by their mental distress. Mothers-to-be inadvertently put their babies at the risk of a range of birth defects, including many fatal deformities when they take SSRI and SNRI antidepressants. More than 600 Zoloft birth defect lawsuits have been filed highlighting heart, cranial, neurological, lung, and other adverse disorders in children exposed to the antidepressant during pregnancy.
Zoloft Side Effects: Agony and Anguish of Mothers
About 13 percent of expectant mothers in the United States go for Zoloft antidepressant and similar SSRI drugs considering them safe and non-habit forming, says the American Pregnancy Association. However, research findings reported in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology warn that babies of these women are at five-time higher risk of having innate Zoloft birth defects.
Lauren Reed, one of the unfortunate mothers, has filed a Zoloft side effects lawsuit demanding $500,000 in damages and recovery of medical and legal costs from manufacturer Pfizer and two Illinois hospitals. She was on the antidepressant until a few weeks prior to the birth of her son, but her doctors did not ever apprise about potential side effects of Zoloft during pregnancy. The absence of any birth defect warning also misled Lauren to consider the drug as safe for expecting mothers. Zoloft side effects during pregnancy caused her son to born with severe congenital respiratory distress inhibiting oxygen circulation in the body. Lack of timely response by doctors damaged his brain rendering the new born to suffer permanent brain damage.
In 2011, a California couple filed a Zoloft birth defect lawsuit over the death of their infant son. The child was born with anencephaly or missing the cerebral hemisphere and died within 18 hours. An Ohio woman’s newborn daughter could not survive more than 24 hours and died of congenital heart and brain deformities associated with Zoloft pregnancy side effects. The child was diagnosed with a neural tube defect, missing brain parts, and pulmonary hypertension.
Zoloft Side Effects Cause Brain Birth Defects
Heart, brain, and respiratory birth defects associated with Zoloft side effects put newborns at higher rate of fatal health conditions. Cranial deformities put babies at the increasing risk of cognitive disorders and brain structural changes. A 2014 report in the Neuropsychopharmacology journal warned of six-fold rise in the risk of Chiari type 1 brain malformations in children exposed to side effects of Zoloft during the prenatal stage.
According to the US National Academy of Science, Zoloft birth defects also results in children suffering from autism and lagging in mental growth and development. Researchers have also discovered the potential threat of seizures, withdrawal syndrome, neurobehavioral syndrome, vertebra defects, and possibility of brain hemorrhage in babies born to women treated with Zoloft antidepressant while pregnant.
Zoloft Side Effects Lawsuits Continue to Mount
Over a dozen Zoloft birth defect lawsuits have been filed by parents in the last week of July blaming the antidepressant for cardiovascular birth defects in their children. Zoloft side effects, according to the suits, led to congenital septal defects, heart malformations, atrial deformities, persistent pulmonary hypertension, hypoplastic heart, and underdeveloped heart valves in their children despite mothers following the antidepressant dosage suggested by doctors. Plaintiffs emphasize that the drug is injurious to health and Pfizer’s inactions in publishing Zoloft pregnancy side effects caused them and their children to suffer injuries and economic losses.
Penn state District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe, the nodal authority for pretrial consolidation of all federal Zoloft birth defect lawsuits, have permitted restricted testimony by plaintiffs’ experts rejecting a counter motion filed by Pfizer. The experts are allowed to tell the court about the link between Zoloft side effects and birth defects, which is disputed by the manufacturer.
Parents and children who have suffered from injuries, losses, and disability due to Zoloft side effects have the right to demand compensation for economic and non-economic damages from the drug manufacturer. To know about the process for filing Zoloft lawsuit and pursue defective medical device product liability claims citing drug maker’s actions and inactions, please contact us or call on 1-800-632-1404.
Contact a Zoloft Birth Defect Lawyer Today.
If your child was born with a birth defect and you or a loved one took Zoloft during the first trimester or pregnancy, please contact us immediately.
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