Cymbalta Lawsuit Data
Cymbalta Lawsuit News- 1/26/2012:
Unfortunately, not all birth defects can be corrected. Some are fatal. Indeed, 20 percent of all infant deaths in the United States are linked to certain birth defects. Other birth defects cause longterm disabilities that affect an individual throughout his or her lifetime. Fifteen-year-old Jimmy, for example, was born with spina bifida, a crippling birth defect. As a consequence, Jimmy’s life is much different than if he had been bom healthy. Jimmy has had to undergo at least fifteen different surgeries, and he is confined to a wheelchair.
The family members of individuals with birth defects face challenges as well. Many people with birth defects must be cared for all their lives. Often it is their parents and siblings who must assume this responsibility. This can be both an emotional and financial burden for families and society. Indeed, a 2003 study conducted by researchers at Research Triangle International in North Carolina and the Centers for Disease Control estimates the financial cost of four different birth defects: mental retardation, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, and vision impairment. Including the medical costs, cost of special equipment and special education, and loss of workplace productivity, the estimated average lifetime cost per person ranges from $417,000 for individuals with hearing loss to more than $1 million for individuals with mental retardation.
Making matters worse, many parents of children with birth defects feel guilty. They wonder if something they did caused their child’s problem. The mother of a child with Down syndrome, a birth defect that causes mental disabilities, recalls: “I gave birth to my daughter Katie, who was immediately diagnosed with Down syndrome. I was devastated and in shock. I was a young, healthy woman and tried to think back what I had done wrong during my pregnancy that could have caused this.”
For more information on Cymbalta Lawsuit: follow us on our RSS Feeds.
Because learning about birth defects is so important, organizations such as the March of Dimes, which is dedicated to preventing birth defects, and the U.S. Congress are working together to educate the American public. In fact, in 2002 Congress passed the Birth Defect Prevention Act, which has as one of its goals informing and educating the public about birth defects. An expert at the March of Dimes explains: “It is critical that women and their health care providers be educated about what they can do to improve birth outcomes.” All birth defects have a physical effect on a person, which varies significantly depending on the specific birth defect. Structural birth defects affect the physical makeup of the body. When a baby has a structural birth defect, some part of the body is missing or malformed. The affected body part can be internal or external. Structural birth defects such as a missing or extra finger or toe can be relatively harmless, but the absence of kidneys or lack of development of parts of the brain can be fatal. Some structural birth defects, such as a clubfoot, affect an individual’s ability to walk. Cleft palates impair speech, while malformed or missing fingers or hands affect a person’s fine motor skills. Gastrointestinal defects, which involve incomplete development of the esophagus, stomach, intestines, or rectum, lead to problems swallowing and digesting food and eliminating waste.
Functional birth defects affect the way the body works. Depending on the organs involved, functional birth defects can cause problems throughout the body. For example, problems in the functioning of the brain cause learning disabilities, mental retardation, deafness, blindness, speech problems, and limited mobility. Other functional birth defects can affect a person’s circulation, breathing, and digestion. Inherited diseases are functional birth defects. Functional birth defects can cause secondary problems. For instance, many people with cerebral palsy, a birth defect that affects the part of the brain that controls movement, often have seizures. Problems in the development of their brains cause normal electrical connections to be disrupted. Secondary problems are also common with structural defects like spina bifida, where underdeveloped nerves lead to paralysis, lack of bowel and bladder control, brain malformations, and learning disabilities.
Birth defects have many different causes. Often the culprit is a faulty gene. Genes are the body’s instruction manual. They are contained in forty-six capsulelike structures called chromosomes, which are found in every cell in the body. Birth defects such as missing fingers, hearing loss, and visual problems are often caused in this manner. So too are malformed internal organs such as kidneys, lungs, brains, and hearts. Indeed, heart defects are the most common birth defect. Eighty- seven babies are born with a heart defect every day, compared to twenty-seven a day born with cerebral palsy or sickle-cell anemia. David was bom with a heart defect. A report on his birth reads: “David Rose, only minutes old was fighting for his life. His tiny heart wasn’t pumping enough oxygen-rich red blood.
Information from other sources on Cymbalta Lawsuit:
Inherited diseases are also transmitted through genes. If there is a family history of an inherited disease, a gene that causes the disease can be passed to the fetus from either parent. Moreover, parents can carry and pass on a disease gene even if they are unaffected by the disease. Once the gene is transmitted, the baby may develop the disease or, like the parent, become a carrier. In other cases the mother alone can transmit an inherited disease. The disease is likely to be linked to an X chromosome, which is transmitted by a mother to her fetus. A male has only one X chromosome, which he receives from his mother, and one Y chromosome, which he receives from his father. A female has two X chromosomes, one from each parent. If a male fetus does not have a normal X chromosome, the defective X chromosome directs his body to develop the inherited disease. For example, if a mother carries a faulty X chromosome that causes color blindness, a disorder in which certain colors cannot be distinguished, her daughters will not inherit the disease because each will have another X chromosome that is not linked to color blindness. Her sons will inherit it because each will have only the faulty X chromosome.
Birth defects also develop when a fetus inherits twenty-four rather than twenty-three chromosomes from either parent. When this happens the fertilized egg contains forty-seven instead of forty-six chromosomes. As the egg divides, cells form with an extra chromosome. Genes in the extra chromosome alter normal fetal development by giving the developing body instructions it cannot follow. The result is a disorder called Down syndrome. Even when there are no genetic abnormalities, birth defects often develop when the fetus is exposed to potentially harmful substances. Any substance that enters a pregnant woman’s bloodstream is transmitted to the developing fetus through the placenta. Consequently the fetus is exposed to everything that enters the mother’s blood, whether by mouth, air, or intravenously. So, if an expectant mother uses cocaine, for example, the fetus is exposed to the harmful effects of the drug.
Substances like alcohol, cigarettes, medications, illegal drugs, contaminated food, household chemicals, and infectious agents all can lead to birth defects. This is because fetal cells are undeveloped and fragile, so the fetus is more sensitive and vulnerable to the effects of these substances. Some substances do not harm the mother, but they damage the fetus. When the substance can hurt the mother, it has an even more pronounced effect on the fetus. The damage can take place any time during pregnancy, but the fetus is most vulnerable in the first trimester, when brain cells are developing.
Our use of the term or terms Cymbalta Lawsuit: is for descriptive purposes only. There is no relationship between the owners of this website and the maker of the product discussed in this post. Our use of the words Recall, Class Action Lawsuit and other similar words related to an event do not necessarily mean that this event has occurred. Refer to the website of the United States Food and Drug Administration for information on drug or medical device recalls. If a Class Action Lawsuit is formed in relation to the product discussed in this post we will provide that information at the time the Class Action is formed. A Class Action Lawsuit is not required to exist for you to file a lawsuit if you have been injured by the product discussed in this post.
To keep up to date on Cymbalta Lawsuit: visit our site often.
Cymbalta Lawsuit