Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

A Cleveland, Ohio, couple is suing the makers of the antidepressant Zoloft, alleging use of the drug during pregnancy caused their newborn baby to die shortly after birth from a serious birth defect of the brain and spinal cord. Susan and James Hodge filed the lawsuit against Pfizer and Cardinal Health in Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas, alleging the drug companies knew the antidepressant could cause fatal neural tube birth defects but covered up studies that documented the dangers.

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Amery Schultz thought he was rocking his newborn baby boy to sleep in his arms, but instead, the baby was taking his last breaths. “Imagine … watching your child die before your eyes, very traumatically,” Schultz told CBC News. “We still relieve it every day.”

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Women who discontinue their antidepressants during pregnancy are at no greater risk for becoming depressed during pregnancy or after delivery than they would have been if they stayed on the medication throughout pregnancy, according to a new study published online and scheduled to appear in the November issue of the journal Epidemiology. The research offers a glimmer of good news to women who take antidepressants in light of new studies that show use of some types of antidepressants can cause serious birth defects if used during pregnancy.

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Babies born to mothers who took a type of antidepressant during pregnancy are more likely to reach developmental milestones late, according to a Danish study published in the journal Pediatrics. The study raises more concerns about selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and its affect on fetuses.

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Another drug from a class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) is being called out by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because of serious injuries. Celexa, or citalopram hydrobromide, a drug used to treat major depression and off-label to treat various anxiety disorders, has been linked to potentially life threatening heart rhythms when used at higher doses. The FDA’s recent communication adds more concern about the safety of a type of drug that some argue is too heavily prescribed. Among the other concerns about SSRIs is their effect on unborn children when taken by pregnant women.

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“Has anyone had a healthy baby who took antidepressants while pregnant?”

It was the question posed recently on BabyCenter.com, a website resource for expectant mothers, new mothers, and women hoping to become pregnant in the near future. The question sparked numerous responses from women who were faced with making that decision. Some women commented that they needed the medication because they struggled with severe depression and anxiety. But they still worry about the effects the drug may have on their unborn babies.

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The British Heart Foundation is calling for a quick and inexpensive test to be performed on all newborns to help detect potentially life threatening heart defects. The pulse oximeter is a device that clips onto the fingertip and measures the oxygen levels in the blood. Oximeters have been used in hospitals for more than 20 years. In the United States, the oximeter test is used on newborns in select states.

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GlaxoSmithKline has awarded millions of dollars in compensation to women who took the antidepressant Paxil (paroxetine) while pregnant and delivered babies with serious birth defects.

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What a woman consumes when she is pregnant can have a detrimental effect on her unborn child. Because of this, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) puts all prescription drugs into one of five categories based on harm to the fetus – A, B, C, D and X. These categories range from A, where there is no harm to the fetus in human studies, to X, where the medication should never be used in pregnant women because the risks to the fetus outweigh any benefit to the mother or fetus.

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A new study confirms that women who use selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy have an increased risk of delivering a baby with major congenital abnormalities, including cardiac defects. The study was published in the July issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

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