Depakote Birth Defect Lawsuit Filed in Illinois

 Posted on March 30, 2013 in Birth Defects

Recently, it was discovered in a study that Depakote use by pregnant women could cause lower IQ scores in their offspring. This is the latest of several suspected Depakote side effects that are ending in lawsuits.

Depakote is also known as valproate and is used extensively to help treat and manage epileptic seizures. It is also prescribed to treat manic depressive disorder, including bipolar disorder, which seems to be growing in occurrence each decade.

Depakote is also prescribed to treat problematic migraine headaches, a condition that has also increased in occurrence across North America in both genders.

One plaintiff of the birth defect lawsuit, however, claims that his mother ingested valproate for the first months of pregnancy and he was subsequently born with Spina Bifida, which he blames on the medication.

The most recent study regarding IQ levels was published in the January edition of The Lancet Neurology. The study found that women who ingest Depakote while they are pregnant have a higher risk that their offspring will test with lower IQ score than children who were not exposed to anti-seizure medications, specifically valproate (Depakote). In this most recent study, children were tested at age six and the same subjects had similar results at age three.

This study seems to support a previous communique released by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2011. The government regulator noted those same study results at age three that showed lower IQ scores and other cognitive tests in children born of mothers who took Depakote, than children whose mothers ingested alternative antiepileptic drugs.

If you or your child has suffered a birth defect after the mother ingested Depakote while pregnant, contact a defective medical device lawyer for assistance today. Newland & Newland attorneys can assist you with any defective medical device if you contact them in Arlington Heights, Libertyville, Crystal Lake, Chicago, Waukegan or Itasca, Ill. today.