Lawsuit Says Pfizer Hid Risks of Zoloft Birth Defects

Lawsuit Says Pfizer Hid Risks of Zoloft Birth Defects

By Jessica Tyner

Zoloft is arguably the most well-known antidepressant on the market. As a very profitable drug for Pfizer Inc., it’s also being linked to causing congenital defects — so many that multidistrict litigation consolidating Zoloft birth defect lawsuits contains hundreds of cases. 

Sara Ellen Gunter is the latest mom to join the Zoloft birth defect (MDL) after her child was born in 2003 with birth defects she claims were caused by her use of Zoloft during the pregnancy. She filed her Zoloft lawsuit on Oct. 25, 2013. Her lawsuit claims that at the time she was pregnant, she wasn’t aware and couldn’t have known that Zoloft caused birth defects in her newborn. Gunter has filed her Zoloft complaint to “recover medical expenses and other expenses related to the treatment resulting” from her child’s birth defects and related medical treatments. 

According to her Zoloft lawsuit, Gunter was prescribed Zoloft by her doctor and was told it was safe to continue taking the drug throughout her pregnancy. Similar to patients, doctors rely on comprehensive warning labels and information provided by drug makers to make the best decisions for their patients. Gunter reports that she also read all packaging information for Zoloft and didn’t see adequate warnings for birth defects – otherwise, she wouldn’t have risked the life and health of her child.

Gunter says she “trusted that serious conditions associated with Zoloft, such as congenital birth defects, would have been included and emphasized in the written drug information provided to her with her prescription.” Like other Zoloft victims, she says there was no appropriate warning.

“Despite the exercise of reasonable diligence in investigating the cause of the injuries, including consultations with her healthcare providers, the Mother Plaintiff was not told that Zoloft could have caused the Minor Plaintiff’s injuries,” reads Gunter’s Zoloft lawsuit. “When the Minor Plaintiff was born, Minor Plaintiff was suffering from life threatening conditions.”

There are cases where birth defects from Zoloft are so severe that the child doesn’t survive. Congenital defects often lead to a life that’s not fully enjoyed and requires constant medical care and attention which is also very costly. “The defects suffered by the Minor Plaintiff were a direct result of Mother Plaintiff’s ingestion of Zoloft during her pregnancy in a manner and dosage recommended by her physician,” the birth defect lawsuit claims.

Zoloft has been available since 1991, but lawsuits allege that for many years Pfizer did nothing to properly test the drug and/or warn the community about the real risks Zoloft side effects on the fetus. Pfizer “had a duty to ensure its warnings to the medical community were, and remain, accurate and adequate,” Gunter says in her lawsuit. Instead, Gunter claims that Pfizer knew there were more extreme risks but chose to continue profiting off of the many pregnant women who were allegedly led to believe the drug was take to take.

She says that Pfizer “knew that congenital birth defects would result from the use of Zoloft by women who became pregnant,” but they didn’t tell physicians or consumers about the comprehensive Zoloft risks. They allegedly kept information hidden from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well, according to the lawsuit.

Getting Due Compensation

Gunter’s Zoloft lawsuit also claims that the entire time Zoloft has been on the market, well over 20 years, that the FDA has urged Pfizer to enhance the warnings but Pfizer has never fully complied. She claims this shows that Pfizer had the knowledge and information necessary, if not from their own testing and research then at least from the FDA, to make the proper changes years ago. In choosing to ignore these warnings, Pfizer is allegedly responsible for at least hundreds of birth defects including the Gunter child.

She is suing Pfizer for failure to warn, design defect, negligence, negligent design, fraud, misrepresentation and suppression, constructive fraud, breach of warranty, gross negligence and malice, loss of consortium and pecuniary loss, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and punitive damages. Although Gunter has joined the Zoloft MDL, she will still get her own trial by jury.

The case is Sara Ellen Gunter et al v. Pfizer Inc. et al, MDL No.: 2342, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Did You Have a Zoloft Baby?

If you were told that Zoloft was safe to take while pregnant and had a child with birth defects, you might have a Zoloft legal claim. Discover more about what you can do by visiting the Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro, Depakote & Prozac SSRI Antidepressant Birth Defect Class Action Lawsuit Investigation today. After you share your information, an attorney will contact you if you have a case for a free Zoloft claim review.