Prozac Birth Defects
Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman represents families whose children were born with Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn (PPHN) after their mothers' ingestion of the antidepressant drug Prozac® during pregnancy.
Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), is a life-threatening disorder in which the newborn’s arteries to the lungs remain constricted after delivery, limiting the amount of blood flow to the lungs and therefore the amount of oxygen into the bloodstream. Ten percent to 20 percent of infants with PPHN will end up dying even if they receive treatment.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in 2006 by Christina Chambers of the University of California, San Diego, found a sixfold increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPH) in infants born to mothers who took an antidepressant in the last trimester of pregnancy. On July 19, 2006, the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory for Prozac and several other antidepressants based on this study.
Since September 2005, information has been emerging that certain antidepressants may cause birth defects, including cardiac (heart), pulmonary (lung), craniosynostosis (skull defect) and infant omphalocele (abdominal wall defects).
Reuters: Study Finds SSRI’s Taken Early in Pregnancy Double Risk of Birth Defect
September 25, 2009 Researchers from Denmark’s Aarhus University were surprised to find that taking certain antidepressants in the early stages of a pregnancy may lead to double, and in some cases triple, the risk of certain birth defects. The study, published in the September 25th Online First issue of BMJ, tied the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) such as Prozac and Zoloft with a heart defect involving a piece of tissue that separates parts of the heart. According to the study, taking Prozac doubled the risk of this defect, taking Zoloft more than tripled it and taking more than one SSRI pushed the risk of having a baby with this particular heart defect to nearly five times more likely. |
Our firm is investigating whether or not other antidepressants, such as Prozac, can cause these birth defects as well.
Baum Hedlund has represented victims of antidepressants in personal injury and wrongful death cases for more than 17 years, beginning with lawsuits related to Prozac in 1990.
The firm has been continuously involved in SSRI antidepressant litigation since then, handling antidepressant suicide/violence cases involving not only Prozac, but also Paxil and Zoloft. Our firm has the longest track-record handling SSRI antidepressant litigation.
We have seen the harm antidepressants can cause and the extent to which drug companies will go to protect their enormously profitable drugs. In representing our clients, we dig deep into drug company files to discover the truth about what the company knew about the drug’s risks, when the company knew of those risks and what efforts, if any, the company took to hide those risks. Only through legal action can anyone gain access to much of this information.
To find out more about Prozac and PPHN,
please visit www.pphnlawyers.com.
For more information about antidepressants and birth defects,
please visit www.antidepressantbirthdefects.com.
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