Lexapro Lawsuits Filed For Children Born With Birth Defects

Three women have filed a product liability lawsuit against Forest Laboratories over birth defects from Lexapro, an antidepressant that each of the plaintiffs used while pregnant. 

The Lexapro lawsuits were filed on February 16 in St. Louis Circuit Court, in Missouri.

All three plaintiffs, Kimberlee Fisher, Kristy Hernandez and Leah Scott, allege that they used Lexapro while pregnant, and subsequently gave birth to children who suffer from malformations or congenital defects.

Fisher’s daughter, Isabella, was born on November 23, 2009 and diagnosed with spina bifida. Kayla was born on August 6, 2010 to Hernandez with club foot. Damien Guidry, Scott’s son, was born December 28, 2007 with bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate.

According to the complaints, Forest knew that side effects of Lexapro may increase the risk of birth defects but failed to provide adequate warning to consumers or healthcare providers. All three women maintain that had they known about the risk to their unborn children they would not have taken the drug.

Lexapro belongs to a family antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRI antidepressants are some of the most widely used drugs in the United States, and also include Paxil, Prozac, Celexa and Zoloft. Several studies have linked the use of SSRI antidepressants during pregnancy to a risk of birth defects and malformations.

An estimated 800 Paxil birth defect lawsuits have been filed against GlaxoSmithKline over their failure to warn consumers and doctors that use of the antidepressant during pregnancy could lead to Persistent pulmonary hypertension in newborns (PPHN) and congenital heart defects in newborns. The lawsuits also claim that the company hid test results and purposefully misled doctors about the risks associated with Paxil, which is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States.

More recently, a growing number of women have filed a Zoloft lawsuit over Pfizer’s failure to warn about the risk of birth defects when that SSRI antidepressant is used during pregnancy. Potential side effects of Zoloft for unborn children have been reported to occur when the drug is taken as early as the first trimester, a time when many women do not even realize they are pregnant.