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The first Effexor lawsuit filed in 2012 was a sordid tale of agony and suffering that no mother ever likes to have even in her wildest dream. When Ohio resident Lauren Boyer began taking the antidepressant, her primary concern was to save the baby in her womb from mental depression she was going through. According to her Effexor attorney, she was “overjoyed to learn that they would be having a baby girl, who they named Adelaide; however, shortly after taking her first breath on February 11, 2010, it was discovered that Adelaide suffered lethal cardiac anomalies, including severe left hypoplastic heart, a malformed aorta, no aortic value, a malformed mitral valve and other related conditions.”
The infant died due to fatal birth defects that her parents linked to Effexor antidepressant pregnancy side effects. The product liability litigation has sought strict liability on 17 counts, including design defect, fraud and misrepresentation, and failure to warn.”
Effexor Birth Defect Leads To Open Heart Surgery in Six-Month Old
A six-month old boy had open heart surgery following antidepressant side effects, claims another Effexor birth defects filed by an Arizona mother. The son was born with “valve defects, aortic stenosis, and other cardiac complications” following ingestion of the antidepressant drug by his mother during pregnancy. Doctors performed “cardiac catheterization and a valvuloplasty” when he was just four-day old, but the complications continued to endanger his life and insertion of “an artificial pulmonary valve through required open heart surgery” at the age of six months, claims the Effexor attorney representing the family.
The boy also has many minor and major heart stabilization procedures, including a second heart surgery at the age of four, till date. Experts monitoring the boy have advised for a transplant to prevent periodic surgeries to replace heart valves. According to the Effexor birth defect lawsuit, parents came to know about link between Effexor pregnancy side effects and the condition of their son in 2012, after research studies and lawsuits highlighted similar events.
Effexor Birth Injury Lawsuit for Heart Defects
The major Effexor heart defects reported so far, by both parents and researchers, include the following types of injuries.
- Neonatal cardiac complications leading to circulatory distress and frequent hospitalization
- Hypoplastic heart syndrome caused by underdeveloped left ventricle and requiring surgical intervention.
- Persistent pulmonary hypertension or failure of blood circulation to reach the lungs
- Absence or malformation of aorta that severely compromise the infants’ ability to keep on circulatory mechanism.
- Fallot syndrome, a factor leading to blue baby syndrome, heart murmur, and low blood-oxygen level, caused by septal defects.
- Valve defect or mitral valve deformities requiring open-heart surgery to implant pulmonary valves and replace them with the growth in age.
- Pulmonary stenosis and atresia that results in pulmonary hypertension and circulatory obstructions leading to serious heart disorders in newborns.
- Septal and ventral defects, commonly known as heart hole, impact circulatory pressure, blood flow, and heart functions.
Most of these Effexor heart defects require the children to undergo surgical intervention within days or months of their birth to survive. Despite surgeries, the quality of life of children born with these heart defects due to Effexor intake by mothers while pregnant are severely compromised and they face recurrent cardiovascular problems linked to congenital birth defects.
Effexor Birth Injury Heart Defects: Research Studies
Independent researchers have highlighted 40% more risk of Effexor birth injury if the antidepressant is used until the 12th week of pregnancy. The newborns, in such a scenario, are 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with heart defects.
Effexor, considered by many as a safer antidepressant alternative, has been linked to serious heart defects in children born to pregnant women using the medication. The SNRI drug introduced by Wyeth in 1993 and subsequently acquired by Pfizer is subject to hundreds of litigations for causing infant birth injuries, disability, cardiac abnormalities, lung defects, neural tube and brain abnormalities, fatal heart conditions, and death through prenatal exposure.
A British Medical Journal report has warned of two-fold higher risk of heart defects in newborns when exposed to Effexor during the first pregnancy trimester. While researchers identified septal defects as common Effexor birth injury heart problem, they also alerted that using more than one antidepressant may double the risk to four-fold.
Danish researchers claim that infants are likely to have potential congenital injuries, including heart defects, even when the antidepressant is taken by women within a month prior to her conception. According to the report, the risk increases with the progress in pregnancy.
To know about the process for filing and pursuing defective medical device product liability claims demanding financial and non-financial damages, please call on 1-800-632-1404 or contact our expert Effexor attorney.
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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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