At this point, you’re probably aware of how dangerous and addictive opioids can be for adults. Well, as a Memphis lawyer for child opioid cases, I focus on how these drugs affect children specifically.

Here’s what you need to know about your legal options for children born with opioid addiction.

The Way Opioid Use Impacts Children

Opioids are a class of powerful pain management drugs and illegal drugs, including methadone, oxycodone (found in OxyContin® and Percocet®), hydrocodone (found in Vicodin®), fentanyl, codeine, morphine, and heroin. People who use these drugs can easily build up a tolerance. As a result, they start to need more and more of the drug, or else they will experience severe withdrawal symptoms.

These withdrawal symptoms can make a person feel like they’re going to die. It’s a terrifying, traumatizing pain.

It’s alleged that some of the major pharmaceutical companies were well aware of these addictive properties. According to some reports, they may have downplayed the side effects of opioids and misled people on how addictive they were.

Under the assumption the drugs were safe, doctors prescribed these opioids left and right. They gave them to pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and women who became addicted and then continued taking the drugs after they conceived.

Many of these children — the ones breastfed or born to women taking opioids — came into the world addicted to these drugs, too. And that means they are born into withdrawal.

 

The Effects of Opioid Withdrawal on Babies and Children

Neonatal opiate withdrawal syndrome has become a national epidemic in America. It affects thousands of infants every year. The complications are terrible for mothers, fathers, foster/adoptive parents, and of course for the child.

Babies with opioid withdrawal experience the same fear, pain, and desperation as adults do, but worse: it happens in their first few days of life. As infants and young children, they can’t understand what’s happening to them. In addition, their tiny bodies are much more vulnerable to side effects and permanent damage.

Children exposed to opioids in the womb may experience:

  • Seizures
  • Birth defects
  • Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion
  • Premature birth
  • Detachment of placenta from the uterus (placental abruption)
  • Low birth weight
  • Cognitive impairment
  • Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
  • Behavioral disorder
  • Mental disability
  • Learning delays
  • and more

In addition, withdrawal might make them experience respiratory distress, mood disorders, asphyxia, hypertonicity (muscle tension), low appetite, extremely high-pitched and excessive cries, diarrhea, vomiting, and more.

Case Examples as a Memphis Lawyer for Child Opioid Cases

Our firm has been working with families affected by these dangerous drugs. Here are some examples (names have been changed):

Tami is kindergarten age. Her mother was in jail and was given methadone every day to help with her opioid addiction. As a result, Tami was born with permanent and irreversible brain damage. We represent her birth mother and adoptive parents.

After Frank lost his adult son to an opioid overdose, he adopted his grandchild, who at 15 still has serious health complications and psychiatric disorders related to opioid exposure in the womb.

Jennie was in a car accident at only 18 years old, and her doctor prescribed opioids. She became addicted and, as a result, went to prison for 3 years. While in prison a corrupt officer brought her drugs, raped, and impregnated her. The baby, who was born with serious complications, arrived while Jennie only had four months to go on her sentence.

Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Get a Memphis Lawyer for Child Opioid Cases

If you or your child has endured even a measure of this suffering because of opioids, you deserve justice.

Our firm is pursuing these cases with a passion, and there’s no time to waste. Litigation is starting, so it’s important to call us immediately in order to be included.

Some people fear that calling a lawyer means you’ll be dragged in and out of court and your kids will be made to feel exposed and vulnerable. That’s simply not the case at all.

The conversation is totally free, and we don’t get paid a thing unless we succeed for you. In that first conversation, we can talk through the whole process with you so you won’t have to worry anymore about what’s involved.

Contact me as soon as possible to get started. You can call me at 901-327-2100 or fill out the form below.

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