› $150,000,000 verdict in personal injury case
Parents of children with birth defects who were exposed to the antidepressant Zoloft during gestation are suing the drug maker claiming the mothers took the antidepressant only because they believed it to be a safe medication to take during pregnancy.
Pregnant women who take certain types of antidepressants are at greater risk for preterm delivery or other birth complications, according to a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The findings add more fuel to the argument that antidepressants not be prescribed to pregnant women and women of childbearing age unless absolutely necessary.
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.
Christine K’s newborn baby spent her first four days of life hooked up to tubes in an incubator at a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, a helpless victim of her mother’s longtime use of antidepressants prior to and for the first six months of her pregnancy.
Christine K had been prescribed a combination of Paxil, Risperdal and Depakote five years prior to becoming pregnant. While pregnant she read that Paxil could be harmful to her unborn baby. She asked her doctor take her off the meds, but he insisted she stay on them.
Preliminary study data suggest that the antidepressant paroxetine should not be prescribed to pregnant women.
