Birth Defects and Other Threats to Mom and Baby Associated with Paxil
Since September, 2005 information has been emerging that Paxil may cause birth defects, including cardiac (heart), pulmonary (lung), neural-tube defects (brain and spinal cord), craniosynostosis (abnormally shaped skull) infant omphalocele (abdominal wall defects), club foot (one or both feet turn downward and inward), and anal atresia (complete or partial closure of the anus). Baum Hedlund is investigating whether or not other antidepressants such as Celexa, Effexor, Lexapro, Prozac, Symbyax and Zoloft cause these birth defects as well.
Heart Birth Defects: The FDA issued a Public Health Advisory for Paxil on December 8, 2005 based on U.S. and Swedish studies showing that exposure to Paxil 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.
PPHN: Persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN) is a serious and life-threatening lung condition that occurs soon after birth of the newborn. Babies with PPHN have high pressure in their lung blood vessels and are not able to get enough oxygen into their bloodstream. About 1 to 2 babies per 1000 babies born in the U.S. develop PPHN shortly after birth, and often they need intensive medical care.
On July 19, 2006 the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory for Celexa (citalopram), Fluvoxamine, Lexapro (escitalopram), Paxil (paroxetine), Prozac (fluoxetine, Symbyax (olanzapine and fluoxetine) and Zoloft (sertraline) based on a study that suggests there may be additional risks of SSRI medications during pregnancy. In this study PPHN was six times more common in babies whose mothers took an SSRI antidepressant after the 20th week of the pregnancy compared to babies whose mothers did not take an antidepressant.
About Baum Hedlund
Baum Hedlund partner, Karen Barth Menzies, heads the firm's SSRI-Antidepressant Litigation Department and is Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (MDL-1574) Paxil Products Liability Litigation. She is also leading the team of Baum Hedlund Paxil birth defect attorneys handling the Paxil birth defect cases.
Because of her proactive representation of Paxil suicide victims and their families, (testifying before state legislature and the FDA, meeting with members of the House and Senate, writing articles and giving speeches around the world regarding the risk of antidepressant induced suicide) drug product liability attorney Karen Barth Menzies has received state and national Lawyer of the Year awards and a national 40-top-lawyers-under-40 award for her "extraordinary achievements" and "impressive track record" and for "stepping up her fight in the past few years, advocating that pharmaceutical companies should warn about the alleged risks of antidepressant drugs."
In a small town outside of Fort Worth, Texas, a two-year-old boy sits by the window of his family room watching his three-year-old brother playing outside with tears rolling down his face. He is too little to understand that he cannot go outside because his heart is too damaged and weak for him to play in the hot summer air. He is too young to know that just by running too long or falling down too hard that he could cause his own death.
He was born with a very rare heart defect called double outlet right ventricle. That title encompasses several congenital heart defects that have caused him to have three open-heart surgeries and the installation of a pacemaker, all before his second birthday. If all goes well as he grows, he will need several additional maintenance-type surgeries to replace an artificial valve in his heart, and to replace the aging batteries in his pacemaker. If there are additional complications, more surgeries and possibly even a heart transplant could become necessary. His mother alleges that these defects were caused by the Paxil that she took while she was pregnant. Read More...
The FDA issued an alert in July 2006 warning about the increased risk of Neonatal Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension (PPHN) to babies born to mothers taking SSRI antidepressants such as Celexa (citalopram), Fluvoxamine, Lexapro (escitalopram), Paxil (paroxetine), Prozac (fluoxetine), Symbyax (olanzapine and fluoxetine) and Zoloft (sertraline).