medicine increased while pregnant.

[Kelly10]

What is the name of your state? New Mexico
I realize this happened 17 years ago but I knew nothing about the dangers in the meds I was taking while I was pregnant.
I was taking tegertol and I was having problems with my blood pressure and fluid retain.
Well my doctor increased my meds.
I had my baby 5 1/2 weeks early and she was born with a clepht palate and all through school she has had problems.
I found out just a few months ago about the birth defects that, that medicine can cause. My doctor said nothing to me.
It hurts seeing her having a hard time in school and knowing if I was just told the dangers I would never of taken the meds while pregnant.
I no longer take the meds. I have had no problems since the birth of my 7 year old when the over dosed me and sent me into a grand mal ....but thats another story!

 

[longsally111]

what?

what exactly is your question? also that happenned how many years ago? It could be that noone knew of the side effects you are talking about. BTW, tegretol does not cause cleft palates.

 

[Kelly10]

I was just wanted to know if there was others out there with the same problem.
And do your research yes it does cause clepht palates and other birth defects.

 

[ellencee]

I researched Tegretol information from 1990 and found that pediatric journal references r/t studies on Tegretol and the developing fetus were used in publications such as drug guides and the Merck manual for healthcare professions. Strong warnings were issued r/t the use of Tegretol in women of childbearing years as Tegretol crosses the placenta and results in various significant facial abnormalities as well as other physical and neurological problems. Included in the abnormalities were spinal bifida, brain development, seizure disorders, and other conditions related to CNS and physical fetal development.

Without additional information from the original poster, it is impossible to know if the treating physician appropriately responded to the poster's pregnancy. It could be that the physician was not negligent if the poster was properly informed to not get pregnant and, or if the poster's seizure disorder required treatment with Tegretol and no other medication would suffice and the risk of not treating the mother outweighed the risks of birth defects. That being said, in 1990, Tegretol came with package inserts just as it does today and the information in the package inserts advocates barrier contraceptives with or without adjunct contraceptives to prevent pregnancy from occurring.

Medical standards from the 1990 require the prescribing physician know or should know that Tegretol crosses the placenta barrier and almost always results in birth defects. It is possible, therefore, that the physician was indeed negligent and as a result of his, her negligence that significant damages did occur to the fetus.

I have no idea of how the law works in such situations where the injured party was a fetus that became a physically impaired child. I do not know if the child has until his, her 18th birthday to file suit in a situation such as this. Furthermore, I have no information regarding the physician in questions. Is he, she still alive and practicing medicine?

My advice is for the original poster and her child to seek legal counsel ASAP as the statute of limitations is very close to expiring, if it has not already expired and for longsally111 to take a few minutes to do a web search before responding. We all make mistakes in our responses, so there is no chastising from me r/t longsally's response.

EC

 

[ecmst12]

To the best of my knowledge, for malpractice actions arising from pregnancy or childbirth with harm to the child, the statute of limitations usually STARTS running at the 18th birthday, so there would be an additional 1-3 years from that date (depending on the state). But it's definititely still advised that you seek legal counsel as soon as possible since these cases can take years to put together. But the extension of the statute of limitations is one of the biggest reasons that malpractice insurance for OB's is so expensive.