Many medications that people use have not undergone testing to ensure their safety during pregnancy. Therefore, physicians usually recommend that patients stop taking those medicines while pregnant or trying to become pregnant.
There are other drugs that pose a verifiable medical risk to both mothers and their unborn children during pregnancy. Some of these medications have a chance of causing serious birth defects. Women with bipolar disorder and other mental health challenges might have a prescription for lithium. In some cases, a doctor’s continuation of their lithium treatment during pregnancy could have devastating consequences.
Lithium can cause birth defects
While the vast majority of patients taking lithium could have healthy pregnancies, the drug has a known correlation with devastating birth defects. Specifically, during the first trimester, the developing fetus is at especially high risk of heart malformation.
Lithium can cause Ebstein’s anomaly, which involves issues with the right ventricle. This malformation can result in blood leaking backward in the heart.
Physicians may need to explore alternative treatments for women currently taking lithium when they plan to become pregnant or have recently discovered they are pregnant. Doctors often have to make a balanced decision weighing the risks of terminating use of mental health drugs with the potential risk to the developing fetus.
In cases where doctors did not conduct testing or communicate with their patients about the risk involved in lithium treatment, mothers who give birth to children with preventable defects may have questions about their rights. Civil litigation is sometimes an option when dangerous drugs cause preventable birth injuries or birth defects.
Women who have recently learned about a child’s cardiac issues may be able to track that medical challenge to the administration of the wrong drug during pregnancy. Reviewing medical records with a legal professional can be beneficial for those who question the underlying cause of a significant birth defect accordingly.