Congenital birth defect? You might stand to collect a small fortune from maker of Paxil if your child was born with heart trouble, other woes

What does Paxil do to a baby?

• You took Paxil (paroxetine hydrochloride) to treat your depression or obsessive compulsive disorder during the first trimester of your pregnancy.

• Paxil causes in some babies ventricular septal malformation (holes in the wall separating the heart’s two main pumping chambers, which allows oxygenated arterial blood to potentially fatally mix with deoxygenated venous blood). Other birth defects include Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension, and omphalocoele (internal organs forming outside the body).

•  These conditions require multiple expensive surgeries to correct.

How long have these dangers been known?

•  Not long after Paxil became available in the early 1990s, researchers reported a 1.5 to 2 percent greater likelihood of birth defects in the babies of women who took the drug, compared to women who did not.

•  In 2005, a scientific study found that Paxil taken during the first trimester may double the risk of potentially fatal birth defects.

You may be entitled to compensation.

•  Paxil’s maker – GlaxoSmithKline – is a giant corporation that has known about these risks at least as long as have medical researchers. Yet, GlaxoSmithKline failed to tell doctors and patients about them.

•  That’s why – if you and your baby were harmed by Paxil – you may be entitled to collect a small fortune in compensation from GlaxoSmithKline. For example, in 2009, a jury awarded a family harmed by Paxil $2.5 million. And, one year later, GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay over $1 billion to 800 Paxil victims.

•  To see what you might be eligible to win, contact Weitz & Luxenberg’s Paxil birth-defects attorneys: Complete the easy form at right (filling it out commits you to nothing), then click “submit.” We will respond promptly.