Zofran Lawsuit Claims Drug Caused “Large” Heart Defect

Over the last two years, major research studies have linked the anti-nausea drug Zofran to congenital heart defects. Reviewing almost two million birth records filed in Denmark and Sweden, researchers have found a more than two-fold increased risk for “cardiac septal defects,” including atrial septal defect, among babies exposed to Zofran during the first trimester.

Now, a wave of mothers who claim the drug’s manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, unlawfully promoted Zofran as an “off label” treatment for morning sickness, have filed lawsuits.

Court motions filed by GlaxoSmithKline indicate that at least 34 individual Zofran lawsuits have been filed in Federal Courts, but many of the complaints have yet to receive public attention. In a new claim obtained by attorneys at Monheit Law, a mother from a small city outside Cleveland, Ohio says the drug caused her unborn child to develop a “large atrial septal defect.”

Filed on July 20, 2015 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, the mother’s lawsuit was registered as case number 1:15-cv-01435. Monheit Law has made a copy of the complaint public on its website, ZofranLegal.com.

Michael Monheit, Esquire, managing partner at Monheit Law and lead sponsor of ZofranLegal.com, says at least 5 Zofran lawsuits have been filed in Ohio Federal Courts. The majority of claims, he notes, have been filed in relation to heart defects, but this is the first to relate in detail an abnormality’s severity.

After visiting her OB/GYN for the symptoms of nausea and vomiting commonly known as “morning sickness,” Plaintiff claims she was prescribed Zofran, first as an IV drip and then in pill form. She continued taking the drug throughout the remainder of her pregnancy, according to the complaint.

Her daughter A.T. was born on January 20, 1995. But lung-related issues, including pneumonia, kept the newborn in the hospital’s NICU, or neonatal intensive care unit, for “the first nine days of her life.” These lung ailments would plague A.T. throughout the following years, her mother claims.

By two, A.T. would be diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and, after the family was referred to a cardiologist, the abnormality was identified as a large atrial septal defect (ASD). Physicians determined that A.T.’s lungs had been damaged by the ASD’s effect on blood flow.

Atrial septal defect is a congenital malformation involving barriers that usually separate heart chambers from one another. Babies born with ASD have a hole, which can be small or large, between the heart’s two upper chambers, individually known as atrium. This hole allows blood from the organ’s left side, which is oxygen-rich, to mix with blood on the right, which hasn’t yet traveled to the lungs for oxygen. If this mixture is pumped out to the body all at once, organs and body tissues can’t receive all the nutrients they need.

Some smaller atrial septal defects close on their own over time; larger holes may require surgical repair to promote proper blood flow.

In mid-1998, at the age of three, A.T. underwent open heart surgery. According to her mother, she was placed on a cardiac bypass machine for “hours” and “surgeons also attempted to repair some of the damage to her lungs.” Three years later, a post-operative checkup showed that A.T.’s atrial septal defect had “completely mended,” but the complaint says the girl’s breathing problems would continue. Among “a variety of [alleged] ongoing treatments,” A.T. saw an immunologist for her difficulty breathing, asthma and allergies for several years.

Parents who have watched their children face challenges similar to those alleged in this recent lawsuit may be eligible to file their own claims. Monheit Law has joined an alliance of experienced plaintiffs’ attorneys to investigate potential Zofran lawsuits. He is currently offering free consultations to parents and birth defect survivors. For more information, call 1-877-620-8411.

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Contact ZofranLegal.com:

Michael Monheit
1-877-620-8411
michael@monheit.com
1368 Barrowdale Road, Rydal, PA 19046

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