Depakote Lawsuits
If you or a child you know is the victim of Depakote birth injury side effects such as Spina Bifida, you need to take action. You may be entitled to financial compensation from a class action lawsuit for your pain and suffering, but the statute of limitations in your state could end your chance for justice before it has a chance to begin. Let our Depakote lawyers and attorneys work for you today.
Depakote, or valproate semisodium or divalproex sodium, is a popular drug marketed by Abbott Laboratories to treat manic episodes of bipolar disorder. Furthermore, many doctors are prescribing it to prevent manic and depressive episodes for people with bipolar disorder, as well as to treat epilepsy, migraines, and the pain caused by diseases that affect the nervous system that fall under the heading of neuropathy.
Unfortunately, there are a number of serious side effects associated with Depakote. The Food and Drug Administration classified Depakote into pregnancy category D due to its likelihood of causing serious and potentially life-threatening fetal side effects. Women that are pregnant, likely to become pregnant, or are nursing should not take Depakote because it can cause a wide variety of dangerous conditions including:
Spina Bifida and Birth Defects
The most dangerous side effects of Depakote involve damage to an unborn fetus. These side effects include
- Cleft palate
- Hypoplastic right heart ( a condition that results in an underdeveloped right side of the heart)
- Undescended testes
- Hand malformations
- Dysplastic (abnormally developed) ribs
- Hypospadia (a condition in male babies that causes the opening of the urethra to occur in the wrong place)
- Spina Bifida (a condition that results in the spinal column failing to completely enclose the spinal cord.
- Fetal death
Liver problems
Depakote can also cause serious liver problems that need immediate medical treatment.
- Dark urine
- Loss of appetitive
- Vomiting
- Fever
- Blood in the urine
Doctors discovered during a recent study 20.3% of women that took Depakote when they were pregnant gave birth to children that suffered from severe birth defects. Women that took higher doses of Depakote were even more likely of having children with birth defects; women that took high doses were more 24% more likely to have fetal trauma, while underdosed women only suffered 9.1% likelihood of birth defects.