Pre-Term Birth Found to Be Side Effect of Paxil, SSRI Antidepressants

Paxil, the popular SSRI antidepressant, has been linked to a number of Paxil birth defects, including causing premature delivery in expecting mothers. Because a number of women were given Paxil while they were pregnant and suffered from pre-term delivery as one of the Paxil side effects, several Paxil birth defect lawsuits are now pending around the country. The Paxil lawsuits allege that the manufacturer failed in its duty to appropriately warn consumers about the drug with the risks clearly stated.

Study Reveals Paxil Side Effects Lead to Pre-term Delivery

Paxil is a member of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) style of antidepressant. While these medications have already been linked to birth defects in infants and newborns, new evidence is mounting that Paxil could be responsible for premature birth in babies whose mothers took the drug while pregnant.

The May 2012 issue of Epidemiology reviewed a new study of SSRI drug interactions with pregnant women. The study looked at the health outcomes of 2,793 pregnant women who were taking antidepressant medications and was overseen by the Yale School of Public Health. In the findings, SSRI drugs were linked to an increased risk of pre-term birth in the women in the study.

This study builds on the evidence used in previous Paxil birth defect lawsuits. Those Paxil lawsuits had already established that SSRI antidepressant use in the first three months of pregnancy, when the mother often doesn’t realize she is pregnant so she can stop taking the drug, leads to a number of potential SSRI antidepressant birth defects for infants. These SSRI antidepressant side effects can include holes in the heart, high blood pressure, and problems in the valve balance in the heart. As the public becomes more aware of these and other Paxil pregnancy side effects, additional Paxil birth defect lawsuits are continually being filed. A Paxil birth defect attorney who is experienced in pharmaceutical liability lawsuits can help your family determine if filing a Paxil birth defect lawsuit or Paxil class action lawsuit is a good course of action for you.

A driver in the ongoing filings of Paxil lawsuit cases are a number of early Paxil lawsuit settlements. GlaxoSmithKline has already settled some individual Paxil lawsuits over the side effects of taking Paxil while pregnant. In the settled Paxil birth defect lawsuits, parents of a young boy born with Paxil heart defects were awarded $2.5 million as compensation, while parents of children who had high blood pressure at birth received a set-aside compensation pool of $2.4 billion.

Paxil settlements like these help make it possible to spread the word about the potential side effects of taking Paxil while pregnant. Drug manufacturers have little incentive to focus on the side effects of their drugs in their marketing and labeling efforts unless there are rigorous enforcement penalties on the other side. With the large early Paxil lawsuit settlements, the courts are signaling that misleading, mislabeling, or avoiding the issue of disclosing Paxil side effects will not be tolerated.

If you or someone you know was prescribed Paxil and later gave birth to a pre-term infant, don’t struggle alone. Help is available. Don’t wait until the set-aside compensatory pools in the Paxil lawsuit settlements are empty – visit the Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro & Prozac SSRI Antidepressant Birth Defect Class Action Lawsuit Investigation page where you can receive a free legal consultation. There are highly experienced Paxil lawsuit attorneys currently investigating a number of Paxil pregnancy side effects, including premature labor, abdominal birth defects, abdominal hernia, cranial birth defects, spina bifida, heart defects, clubfoot, other limb abnormalities, and PPHN.