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If your child was born with a birth defect and you took Depakote® during your pregnancy, you might qualify for financial compensation. To find out if you are eligible to file a birth defect lawsuit, contact our Depakote® lawyers today.

Pregnancy and Depakote® Side Effects

If a woman becomes pregnant or plans to become pregnant while taking Depakote®, it is important to talk with her doctor. The medication is known to cause birth defects. But, uncontrolled epilepsy in the mother and its effects on the fetus also are dangerous.

Uncontrolled seizures during pregnancy can cause miscarriage. Thus, it is important for the mother and doctor to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of taking the medication in her particular case.

Birth Defects From Depakote®

Depakote® might increase a risk of the following birth defects if taken by a pregnant woman:

• Neural tube defects (spinal cord defects)
• Blood clotting problems
• Liver failure
• Malformations of the face and head (such as cleft palate, or failure of the bones of the skull to close properly)
• Heart defects (atrial septal defects, or a hole in the membrane separating the chambers of the heart)
• Polydactyly (the occurrence of more than five fingers on a hand)
• Hypospadias (a condition where the opening of the urethra is misplaced in male babies)

Among the birth defects Depakote® can cause, neural tube defects are the most common. In the early weeks of a fetus' life, certain cells in the embryo curl and their edges fuse and take the shape of a narrow tube. This tube is the beginning of the formation of the spinal cord, the bone and tissues that surround it, and the brain. This process usually is finished by the time the fetus is 28 days old. This can all happen, therefore, before a woman even knows she is pregnant.

If anything interferes with the formation of this neural tube and it does not close properly at any particular location, it becomes a neural tube defect. This leaves that portion of the spinal cord unprotected. Depending upon where and how severe the defect is, the newborn is at risk for damage to the brain and the spine and for paralysis.

Depakote® might also affect the clotting ability of the mother's blood as well as that of the fetus and infant. In one instance, a baby born with a clotting defect whose mother took Depakote® hemorrhaged to death.

Depakote® Birth Defects Lawsuits

If you took Depakote® during your pregnancy and your baby was born with birth defects, you should contact a Depakote® lawyer to review your options for a lawsuit. There is evidence of an increased risk of birth defects in babies born to mothers who have taken Depakote®. You should talk with your lawyer about being compensated for the pain and suffering you and your baby have undergone.

Contact a Depakote® Lawyer Now!

You have a right to be reimbursed for the damage Depakote® has done to your baby. To find out if you qualify, contact our Depakote attorneys today.

"Depakote Risks Must Be Adequately Assessed"

Depakote is currently the mot prescribed branded treatment for patients with mania associated with bipolar disorder and the most prescribed branded treatment for epilepsy. Made by Abbott Laboratories, the company just had a victory after proving a gene...

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