Pennsylvania Personal Injury Blog

A Scranton-area obstetrician was denied an appeal in a malpractice case filed by a Pennsylvania family. According to TheTimes-Tribune.com, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel White filed a suit against Dr. Richard Behlke and OB/GYN Consultants Ltd. after their son suffered cerebral palsy caused by medical mistakes when he was born in 2001. He is also nearly blind.

A common birth injury, cerebral palsy can result from medical malpractice on the part of doctors or other medical personnel. Cerebral palsy may develop if a baby is in the birth canal too long. Cerebral palsy affects a child’s movements, posture, and can cause involuntary or uncontrolled movements. Often, cerebral palsy requires medical care and treatment for life.

Any type of birth injury can lead to a lifetime of impaired function and ability for the infant, as well as profound financial hardship for a family. In most cases, negligence on the part of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel is the primary cause of a birth injury. Of the approximately four million babies born each year in the United States, around seven in 1,000 will suffer a birth injury.

The Philadelphia birth injury attorneys at Cherry Fieger & Marciano, LLP have decades of combined experience guiding families through this difficult period of their lives. No amount of money can restore function or undo the damage caused by birth injuries, but it can help offset the steep costs of medical care, physical and mental rehabilitation, wheelchairs and other special equipment, counseling and other costs and financial hardship caused by the birth injury. Birth injuries can apply to the mother as well as the baby. If you or your baby has suffered an injury before, during or after childbirth, contact the Pennsylvania birth injury attorneys at Cherry Fieger & Marciano, LLP for more information.

Having a baby is often a joyous event, however, complications may arise, causing lifelong defects and other issues that may affect an infant’s ability to grow and enjoy life fully. Birth injuries are caused by a number of reasons, including the baby’s position or size during labor as well as the possibilities of gestational diabetes and premature or prolonged labor.

Many birth injuries in Pennsylvania are minor. According to the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, some common birth injuries include bruising from forceps, fractures during labor and delivery, facial paralysis (often caused by the use of forceps) and caput succedaneum, or severe swelling of the soft tissue of the babies scalp. Some of these conditions may heal within a matter of weeks or months, while others can last a lifetime.

There are some cases where babies are born with serious defects such as cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury (TBI) or Erb’s palsy. These injuries can affect the child’s cognitive functions, memory, personality and muscle control. These conditions can greatly decrease an infant’s quality of life as well as incur costly medical bills and can even cause psychological damage to family members involved.

If your infant has suffered one of the above birth injuries, you may be entitled to recover compensation for medical bills and other financial losses incurred as a result of your child’s condition. Many parents do not realize that doctors can sometimes be held liable, if negligence or failure to diagnose can be proven. Medical professionals have a responsibility to their patients. The experienced Philadelphia birth injury attorneys at Cherry, Fieger & Marciano can help you understand your rights and file a claim. Call today for a free consultation at 1-888-684-7192.

A Philadelphia jury awarded $2.5 million to a woman from Bensalem. The jury found that Paxil had caused heart problems in her 3-year-old son who required several surgeries after his birth to fix his heart. They ruled out additional punitive damages.

The case was the first of about 600 lawsuits to go to trial on claims that the GlaxoSmithKline’s Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects in children whose mothers took the drug during pregnancy.

According to an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, legal experts saw the 10-2 jury decision as a big win for plaintiffs in the remaining cases, even though the jurors awarded only compensatory damages.

Jurors linked the plaintiff’s problems to Paxil and said GlaxoSmithKline was negligent in not properly warning the woman’s doctor of the drug’s risk. They did not find the company’s behavior “outrageous,” which would have been necessary to award punitive damages.

The standard for finding punitive damages requires evidence that a company knew about problems but ignored them or covered them up because the product was so profitable.

Continue reading "First Paxil Lawsuit Results in Plaintiff's Favor" »

On September 15, an attorney told a Philadelphia jury that GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. ignored evidence for years that its antidepressant Paxil may have caused birth defects. According to an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, this attorney represents a woman who says that taking the drug during her pregnancy caused her three year-old son’s heart problems.

The Bucks County resident, a former cheerleader for the Philadelphia 76ers, is making the claim for her son who appeared briefly in the courtroom this morning. According to her attorney, Glaxo told its scientists to avoid disclosing possible risks associated with the drug’s use by pregnant women.

An attorney for GlaxoSmithKline is claiming there is no evidence that Paxil caused the child’s heart problems. The case is being heard in Common Pleas Court.

The woman’s attorney showed the jury a series of documents that showed that Glaxo knew before Paxil went on the market that rats administered the drug were more likely to have pups that didn’t survive past four days and that the rate of death increased with higher doses of Paxil.

In the late 1980s, at about the same time as the rat study, an internal Glaxo scientist warned that “there remains the possibility that this compound could be teratogenic (meaning can cause birth defects) at higher dose levels.”

The trial is the first of more than 600 cases alleging that Glaxo knew Paxil caused birth defects and hid those risks to pump up profits. Approved for U.S. use in 1992, the drug generated about $942 million in sales last year, 2.1 percent of Glaxo’s total sales.

Continue reading "Trial Opens in Philadelphia in Paxil Lawsuit" »