Willful And Negligent Fetal Exposure To Environmental Toxins: What It Means Legally For You And Your Baby

What happens when personal injury cases extend beyond you to your unborn child? You will not really know how your child was affected in utero until after he or she is born. At that time, you may pursue an personal injury case on behalf of your child. Your personal injury attorney will have to prove all of the following in order to get any compensation for you and your child.

Willful and Negligent Exposure

Most mothers-to-be would never willingly expose their unborn babies to dozens of environmental toxins. However, mothers are already exposed to dozens of toxins daily, most of which are flushed out or processed by the liver and kidneys, but many still remain in their systems. According the publication, US Health, women are exposed to thousands of chemicals every day, some of which cause severe neurological problems in their babies. The problem arises when employers know women are pregnant but expect or force them to work with toxic chemicals anyway. This is "willful and negligent exposure to environmental toxins."

Proving Your Employer's Actions

This is the tricky part, as most employers will deny intentionally exposing you, a pregnant woman, to harmful chemicals and known mutagens. Your personal injury lawyer will have to get:

• A complete list of the chemicals used in your line of work
• The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) documents that show the dangers to and/or warnings against fetal exposure
• Documents from your pediatrician with regards to your baby's current diagnosis and treatment plan
• Toxicity reports from your blood as well as your baby's

Even if you had gone to your employer and told him or her that you were pregnant and could not work with the materials or chemicals given, and you requested different duties or alternative products to complete your work but were denied or never received alternatives, your employer may still argue that he or she did not know or you never asked for safer working conditions.

Expected Compensation

In the event that your lawyer can prove your employer exposed your unborn child to chemicals that caused your baby's current health and development problems, you can expect compensation commensurate with the severity of your baby's problems. When those problems are expected to last your baby's entire life, as birth defects and neurological problems commonly do, then your lawyer may sue for either a lump sum for life or an annual sum based on your child's needs and care for each year of life to adulthood.

For more information, contact a company like the Law Office Of Daniel E Goodman.