Texas Newborn Opioid Withdrawal Lawyer

Compassionate Texas Medical Attorneys for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Claims

Understanding Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS)

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a group of conditions that develop when a baby withdraws from drugs, most often opioids, that the baby was exposed to in utero before birth. The drugs pass through the placenta during pregnancy, and once the baby is born and the supply stops, withdrawal begins.

According to the Office on Women’s Health, NAS can develop within hours or days after delivery. The severity depends on several factors, including the type of opioid involved, how long the mother used it, and whether the baby was full-term.

Doctors sometimes prescribe medications linked to newborn opioid withdrawal, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl, morphine, and codeine. When clinicians do not carefully monitor prenatal opioid exposure, the infant can pay the price. These medications are sometimes necessary for pain management, but they require strict medical oversight.

Symptoms of NAS generally fall into three main categories. Recognizing them early is essential for getting the baby proper treatment, which may include nonpharmacologic care such as rooming-in, swaddling, and maintaining a low-stimulation environment.

Common NAS Withdrawal Symptoms:

• Tremors and seizures: Uncontrollable shaking, muscle stiffness, or convulsions that may begin shortly after birth
• Gastrointestinal distress: Persistent vomiting, diarrhea, poor feeding, and difficulty gaining weight
• Respiratory issues: Rapid or irregular breathing, nasal stuffiness, and excessive sneezing

A Texas newborn opioid withdrawal attorney can help families understand whether these symptoms resulted from preventable medical decisions and what legal options may be available.

Long-Term Effects and the Lifetime Cost of Care

The long-term effects of NAS can include cognitive delays and behavioral consequences. Separately, prenatal opioid exposure has been linked to certain congenital birth defects, such as spina bifida and congenital heart defects, all of which may require lifetime medical support.

The challenges do not end in the NICU. Children who experience newborn opioid withdrawal often face developmental delays, which is a broad term covering problems with learning, memory, attention, and behavior that can emerge as the child grows. Many of these children need special education services, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and ongoing behavioral health support well into adolescence and beyond.

The physical toll can be equally significant. Pharmacologic weaning, the process of gradually reducing opioid therapy (such as morphine or methadone) in the newborn, may be required during the initial hospital stay. But some infants also face structural birth defects tied to prenatal opioid exposure, including hydrocephalus and gastroschisis, a condition where the infant’s intestines extend through an opening in the abdominal wall.

Families working with a Texas newborn opioid withdrawal lawyer often pursue compensation that accounts not just for current bills, but for the projected lifetime cost of care and the child’s diminished future earning capacity.

Category of Care	Examples	Who Often Pays
Neonatal/Hospital Care	Extended NICU stay, pharmacologic weaning	Medicaid covers a large share; families bear remaining costs
Surgical Intervention	Gastroschisis repair, cardiac surgery	Insurance/Medicaid with significant out-of-pocket gaps
Developmental Therapies	Speech, occupational, physical therapy	Families often pay for services insurance does not cover
Special Education	Individualized learning plans, tutoring	Public school systems and families
Behavioral Health	Counseling, psychiatric care	Insurance with co-pays; limited Medicaid coverage
Lost Future Earning Capacity	Reduced ability to work independently as an adult	Not covered; recoverable through litigation

Securing compensation is vital because a settlement must cover these chronic needs for the duration of the child’s life.

Medical Negligence: Opioid Prescription During Pregnancy

Medical negligence occurs when a doctor prescribes opioids to a pregnant woman without proper monitoring, fails to warn of risks to the fetus, or ignores a patient’s history of addiction.

The standard of care for prescribing painkillers during pregnancy requires physicians to weigh the risks carefully. That includes opioid use disorder (OUD) screening, a medical assessment to identify potential addiction issues, and counseling the patient about the potential for prenatal opioid exposure to cause lasting injury. Doctors are expected to consider non-narcotic alternatives, closely monitor the pregnancy, and document all decision-making.

When these steps are skipped or ignored, the result can be a newborn suffering from withdrawal. The CDC’s guidance on opioid use and pregnancy outlines the serious risks that healthcare providers are expected to understand and communicate.

Understanding the broader crisis provides context for these individual cases. The opioid epidemic has unfolded in three waves: the first driven by overprescription of painkillers in the 1990s, the second by the rise of heroin, and the third by synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Provisional drug overdose death data from the CDC reflects how deeply these waves have affected communities across the country.

Medical providers have been part of each wave. Negligent prescribing, failure to screen for addiction risk, and failure to offer safer alternatives have directly contributed to infants being born dependent on opioids. Texas newborn opioid withdrawal attorneys examine these prescribing decisions closely, looking at whether the doctor followed accepted standards or fell short.

At Hastings Law Firm, our in-house nursing staff and former defense attorneys know how to read prescribing records, identify gaps in monitoring, and determine where the standard of care was breached.

Determining Liability: Pharmaceutical Giants vs. Negligent Prescribers

Liability in NAS cases may fall on pharmaceutical manufacturers for deceptive marketing or on individual doctors and hospitals for negligent prescribing and monitoring practices. In many cases, more than one party shares responsibility.

The national opioid crisis has produced massive legal action, including Multidistrict Litigation (MDL), which consolidates similar cases to handle complex legal issues efficiently. The Texas Comptroller’s Office provides details on how these settlement funds are being managed in Texas.

Identifying the sources of accountability and compensation is critical because large settlements address systemic roles, while individual claims address specific medical errors.

Factor	Pharmaceutical Liability (Mass Tort/MDL)	Medical Malpractice (Doctor/Hospital)
Defendant	Drug manufacturers and distributors	Prescribing physician, clinic, or hospital
Legal Theory	Deceptive marketing, failure to warn	Breach of standard of care in prescribing
Claim Type	Product liability, often consolidated in MDL	Individual malpractice lawsuit
Evidence Focus	Internal marketing documents, FDA filings	Prescription records, prenatal care charts
Compensation Source	Settlement funds or jury verdict	Individual defendant’s malpractice insurance

As a Texas newborn opioid withdrawal law firm, Hastings Law Firm investigates both angles. Our team reviews the prescribing history and the manufacturer’s conduct to determine every potential source of recovery.

Eligibility: Who Can File a Newborn Opioid Withdrawal Lawsuit?

Parents, legal guardians, and in some cases the children themselves (through a legal representative) may be eligible to file a lawsuit if the infant suffered NAS due to negligent opioid exposure.

To pursue a claim, families generally need three things: proof that opioids were prescribed during pregnancy, a medical diagnosis of NAS, and evidence linking the exposure to the child’s injuries. Medical records and neonatal toxicology testing, which analyzes meconium or umbilical cord tissue for drug exposure, are often central to building the case.

Hospitals typically use the Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence Scoring System (FNASS), a standardized tool that rates the severity of a newborn’s withdrawal symptoms, to diagnose and monitor NAS. These scores, along with prescription records and prenatal care documentation, form the foundation of the legal claim.

Eligibility Checklist:

• Qualifying for a lawsuit requires that the infant was diagnosed with NAS or showed documented withdrawal symptoms
• Opioids were prescribed to the mother during pregnancy
• Medical records and toxicology reports confirm opioid exposure
• The prescribing physician or manufacturer may have acted negligently
• A parent, legal guardian, or court-appointed representative can file on behalf of the child, who acts as the patient and plaintiff in the legal filing.

Texas has a statute of limitations, which is a strict legal deadline for filing medical malpractice claims. While the timeline can be affected by the child’s age, families should seek a legal review early to ensure evidence is preserved.

Contact the Texas Birth Injury Attorneys at Hastings Law Firm Today for Help

No family should have to face the consequences of preventable medical harm alone. If your child was born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome and you believe a doctor’s prescribing decisions may have contributed, you deserve answers.

Hastings Law Firm is dedicated to uncovering the truth in these cases and protecting the financial future of children who cannot yet speak for themselves. Founded by Tommy Hastings, a board-certified trial lawyer with over two decades of experience, our firm prepares every case as if it will go to a jury. Our team of Texas newborn opioid withdrawal lawyers is supported by in-house medical professionals and a national network of experts.

There are no fees unless we recover compensation for your family. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation to discuss what happened and learn what options may be available to you.