A Zoloft birth defects lawsuit was filed by a Rhode Island mother against Pfizer, the makers of Zoloft, alleging the antidepressant caused her child to develop serious birth defects due to her use of the antidepressant during her pregnancy.

Plaintiff Justina Tunstall filed the Zoloft lawsuit on behalf of herself and her young child, known only as J.A.T. in the lawsuit. J.A.T. was born in September 2010. According to the  Zoloft birth defects lawsuit, J.A.T. was born with several serious birth defects, including pulmonary stenosis and patent foramen ovale. Pulmonary stenosis is a condition in which blood flow is restricted from the heart to the lungs, causing localized high blood pressure and a lack of oxygen. Patent foramen ovale is a type of atrial-septal defect, a condition in which the walls of the heart do not fully form, causing un-oxygenated blood and oxygenated blood to mix in the heart, decreasing the efficiency of heart. According to her Zoloft lawsuit, J.A.T. will need ongoing medical care, possibly for the rest of the child’s life.

Tunstall’s Zoloft birth defect lawsuit alleges that the earliest animal trials of Zoloft suggested that the drug could cause birth defects, particularly birth defects involving the heart. The Zoloft birth defect lawsuit further alleges that despite this, Pfizer continued to aggressively promote the drug, even to pregnant women. According to the Zoloft lawsuit, animal trials prior to Zoloft’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and release onto the market showed that Zoloft and related drugs could cause serious birth defects. Additionally, Tunstall’s Zoloft lawsuit notes that the drug’s advertising carried no warning for pregnant women, even as research studies found risks of birth defects with related drugs, and related antidepressants added warning labels to their drugs.

Tunstall’s Zoloft birth defect lawsuit has joined others in a type of group lawsuit called a multidistrict litigation, or MDL. MDLs are a process that allows the legal system to combine similar lawsuits into a single coordinated legal process. This is intended to streamline the legal process by coordinating tens, hundreds, or even thousands, of individual lawsuits. The Zoloft birth defect MDL is being coordinated in a federal court in Pennsylvania. Similar MDLs have been coordinated over related drugs, including Paxil and Prozac.

The Zoloft Birth Defect Lawsuit is Justina Tunstall, et al. v. Pfizer Inc., Case No. 2:14-cv-03701-CMR, in the larger Zoloft MDL In Re: Zoloft (Sertraline Hydrochloride) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2342, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.