FAQs

Are Antidepressants Linked To Birth Injuries?

There has been several antidepressant drugs linked to birth injuries when women take them while pregnant and the litigation for these birth injuries is ongoing. Since there is such serious results surrounding birth injuries, our office recommends that women consult their doctors before taking any antidepressant drug.

Over the last few decades, the availability of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) has increased. Prescriptions for antidepressants exceed 250 million and the National Center for Health Statistics reports that 11% of Americans over the twelve years of age take some form of antidepressant.

Learn more about SSRI and birth injuries.

Women are also 2 ½ time more likely to take antidepressants than their male counterparts. A scary statistic is that one-third of the women who take antidepressants have not seen a doctor in more than a year. The number of pregnant women taking antidepressants has also rise from 1% in the 1980s to 7.5% in the second half of the last decade. If these drugs have potential to cause birth injuries, it is absolutely imperative for expecting mothers to know of these dangers.

Birth injury litigation includes lawsuits for SSRIs and SNRIs, including those drugs people may recognize such as Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro, and Efflexor. If a drug has the potential to cause harm to an unborn fetus, the FDA requires that the information is included on the package.

Read about antidepressants and the birth injuries they are linked to.

There have been numerous drugs that have recently been subject of litigation because of their link to premature births, miscarriages, and defects such as congenital heart defects, cleft lip and palate injuries, and craniosynostosis.

Craniosynostosis is the fusing of sutures in the infant’s skull that limits growth, causing head and facial abnormalities.

Child Born with Defects from SSRI or SNRI

The lawyers at our office can help those mothers who have birthed children with injuries due to the antidepressants that they took while pregnant. We urge those women to call our law office at 800.637.8170. We would be happy to explain the legal options available to those who find themselves in this situation.