Zoloft Lawsuits: Potential for Birth Defect Lawsuits

Zoloft Lawsuits

Though there have been no notable Zoloft lawsuits to date, Pfizer has been under heavy scrutiny with regard to the product for a few years now. A 2007 study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, examined roughly 10,000 infants with birth defects and 6,000 healthy infants concluded that pregnant women taking Zoloft during the first few months of pregnancy had twice the risk of having a child that suffered from birth defects. Since then, there have been a variety of risks identified with taking Zoloft while pregnant.

Women taking Zoloft during pregnancy may expose their unborn child to a risk that they will suffer from persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN), a condition characterized by abnormally high blood pressure in the pulmonary artery, vein, or capillaries. Common symptoms of the condition include shortness of breath and fatigue. Though the symptoms may come on gradually, PPHN is a very serious disorder. If left untreated, it is likely to be fatal within just a few years.

Zoloft May Be Associated with Birth Defects

Zoloft has been associated with a variety of other birth defects, some less serious than others. Oral clefts – malformations of the lip and/or palate – are not life threatening but may be very harmful to a child’s development, especially his or her self esteem. A more serious birth defect associated with Zoloft is malformations of the neural tube, which is the foundation of the nervous system in a developing fetus. Zoloft has been connected to a failure of the tube to fuse in the first few months of pregnancy, resulting at times in malformed vertebrae, leaving portions of the spinal cord exposed and susceptible to injury.

Despite these studies that have revealed these risks to pregnant women taking Zoloft, the drug has been a cash cow for Pfizer over the years, its yearly value to the company measured in billions. Unfortunately for those who have suffered adverse Zoloft effects, Pfizer has put the onus on the consumer to ensure the product is safe – a responsibility that clearly should be taken on by the manufacturer of a medication. It is apparent that the pharmaceutical manufacturer does not understand or appreciate its public duty as a company that makes billions of dollars a year in the medical industry.

Speak to a Zoloft Lawyer Today

If the above sounds familiar to you, then you may be able to get compensation from Pfizer in a zoloft birth defects lawsuit. Currently, the Rottenstein Law Group is evaluating cases of people that have suffered from these symptoms. For a free consultation with RLG regarding your potential claim, please fill out this brief contact form.