Information about Antidepressants and Birth Defects

Because Baum Hedlund has been representing victims of antidepressants in personal injury and wrongful death cases for more than 20 years, we have seen, first hand, the harm antidepressants can cause and we are extremely motivated by our clients’ tragic stories. In our representation of 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 this information. We fight hard to get this information into the public domain to prevent others from having to endure similar tragedies.

We have a large team of plaintiffs attorneys handling the SSRI birth defect litigation. Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman and Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Shapiro Davis, Inc. have created a joint venture in order to prosecute the firms' SSRI antidepressant birth defect cases.  The team of plaintiffs' attorneys working together on these cases includes Michael Baum, Nicole Maldonado and George W. Murgatroyd III, from Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman based in Los Angeles, and Mark P. Robinson, Jr., Karen Barth Menzies and Jennifer Liakos from Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Shapiro Davis, Inc. based in Newport Beach, California.  Both firms have many years of experience handling pharmaceutical product liability, mass tort litigation and consumer class actions against major drug companies.  Anyone in need of an antidepressant birth defect lawyer should contact us for a free consultation.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Public Health Advisory December 8, 2005 based on U.S. and Swedish studies showing that exposure to antidepressants in the first trimester of pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk of heart birth defects. Most of the cardiac defects observed in these studies were atrial or ventricular septal defects, conditions in which the wall between the right and left sides of the heart is not completely developed.  

Because SSRIs have  a similar side effect profile generally, we are investigating whether or not antidepressants such as Celexa, Effexor, Lexapro, Prozac, Symbyax and Zoloft cause the same birth defects. We represent many families whose children have heart birth defects where their mother's were on one of these antidepressants during pregnancy.

The findings in this study were consistent with an earlier study done regarding in utero exposure to Prozac.  In that case, 31.5% of the infants who had been exposed to Prozac during the pregnancy had neonatal withdrawal syndrome—which shows that withdrawal symptoms in infants exposed to SSRIs are not rare.

To join in lawsuits being filed concerning SSRI related heart defects contact a Baum Hedlund attorney at 800-827-0087 or fill out our case form as soon as possible.