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compensation following an accident
illness or injury - nationwide
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The majority of pregnant mothers understand that they must be careful what they ingest – food, drink, alcohol and drugs, both medicinal and recreational – to ensure the foetus has the best chance of developing healthily but if a woman is unaware of a potential problem and her baby is harmed, she may have recourse to a birth injury solicitor.
The availability of powerful drugs to alleviate the effects of a variety of medical conditions means that many mothers who in previous eras would have been unable to conceive or bear a healthy child are now able to do so if their underlying problem is carefully monitored.
One such common condition is epilepsy, which affects one in 131 people in the UK, with varying degrees of severity, many of which can be so satisfactorily controlled with drugs that sufferers live a virtually-normal life. A number of drugs with different characteristics are available and, as each patient is an individual, their epilepsy specialist should ensure the most suitable is prescribed.
When an epileptic woman is planning to become pregnant, she will need to seek an early consultation with her usual doctor to ensure the anti-seizure drug she is taking is compatible with pregnancy and will not cause any harm to her foetus.
For example, topiramate has been implicated in an increased risk of cleft palates and cleft lips in children whose mothers have been prescribed these tablets, which are also used as a treatment for migraine.
Doctors should be well aware of the possible risks of a birth defect occurring because of the effect of this medication on the metabolism of the mother. Being ignorant of this risk or failing to take action on it could form the basis of negligence claim, if a child is born with an injury which could have been avoided.
Alternative medicines which still protect against seizures but are less likely to have a detrimental effect on the development of the foetus should then be tried until a suitable one is selected.
Due to chemical imbalances caused in the mother's body during pregnancy, there is also a chance of her baby being born with a vitamin k deficiency and, after birth, further monitoring will be needed to ensure her milk containing small amounts of anti-convulsant drugs has not affected the child.
Epileptics are usually well adjusted to coping with their condition and able to have a family without difficulty but in the rare instances where a birth injury has occurred because of essential drugs being ingested after a doctor's error in prescription, making a birth injury claim may be appropriate.
UK-wide birth injury solicitor service
YouClaim offers a UK-wide birth injury solicitor service for parents who have suffered as a result of medical negligence which has caused the mother or child to have incurred unnecessary harm during the pregnancy or birth.
Noted for their sympathetic approach and wide-ranging experience, our lawyers advise and represent families throughout the UK in making compensation claims.
If you feel you have received incorrect treatment at the hands of a medical professional, they may well be able to help you, too.
To find out more, you can speak to a legal adviser free on 0800 10 757 95 or send us brief details of your circumstances by email and we'll get back to you.
