Texas Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension Lawyer

Securing Justice for Infants Impacted by PPHN and Medical Negligence

Understanding PPHN and the Physiology of Birth Injuries

Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn (PPHN) is a life-threatening condition where a newborn’s circulatory system fails to adapt to breathing outside the womb, causing dangerously high blood pressure in the lungs and severe oxygen deprivation, a state known as hypoxemia (critically low oxygen levels in the blood). This condition prevents blood from reaching the lungs to pick up oxygen, which can quickly lead to organ damage.

During a healthy birth, the baby’s fetal circulation transitions so that blood flows to the lungs for oxygen. With PPHN, that transition does not happen properly. Blood bypasses the lungs and continues circulating without adequate oxygen, starving the brain and organs. Brain damage in newborns can lead to lifelong cognitive or motor challenges.

The signs often appear within hours of birth:

• Rapid or labored breathing and low oxygen saturation readings
• Cyanosis, visible as a bluish tint to the skin, lips, or nail beds
• Low blood pressure and signs of cardiovascular stress
• Need for emergency intervention in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), including mechanical ventilation or ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), a machine that oxygenates the blood outside the body when the lungs cannot, as described in the ECMO PICU Handbook from Stead Family Children’s Hospital

Timely diagnosis is critical. The longer PPHN goes unrecognized or untreated, the greater the risk of permanent brain damage. An experienced PPHN lawyer can help determine whether delays in recognizing or treating these symptoms fell below the expected medical standard.

Common Causes of PPHN: Malpractice vs. Complication

PPHN can result from underlying conditions like meconium aspiration or diaphragmatic hernia, but it is often triggered or worsened by medical negligence, such as a failure to manage maternal infections or ignoring signs of fetal distress. Identifying a preventable medical error is the first step in determining if you have a legal claim for your child’s injuries.

Understanding the difference between an unavoidable complication and a preventable medical error is central to any birth injury claim. Some risk factors are clinical conditions that require proper management. Others point directly to gaps in care.

Category	Risk Factor	Potential Negligence
Maternal Health	Maternal diabetes, preeclampsia, untreated infections	Failure by the OB/GYN to monitor or manage known conditions
Birth Trauma	Birth asphyxia, oxygen deprivation during labor	Delayed intervention when fetal distress was present
Respiratory	Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS), a condition where the baby inhales a mix of meconium and amniotic fluid	Failure to clear airways or respond to warning signs during delivery
Respiratory	Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), caused by underdeveloped lungs	Inadequate assessment of lung maturity before delivery
Pharmaceutical	SSRI antidepressants, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) used late in pregnancy	Prescribing without adequate risk counseling or monitoring

A Texas birth injury lawyer for PPHN will examine your medical records to determine which category your child’s case falls into and whether a provider’s actions, or inactions, crossed the line from complication into negligence.

The Link Between SSRI Antidepressants and PPHN

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of antidepressants that includes medications like Paxil and Zoloft, have been associated with an increased risk of PPHN when used during the later stages of pregnancy. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are medications often used for mental health but require careful management during pregnancy. An updated meta-analysis published on PubMed confirmed a statistically significant association between SSRI exposure and PPHN.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), common pain relievers like ibuprofen, have also been linked to PPHN risk when taken during the third trimester. If your prescribing physician failed to warn you about these risks, including relevant FDA warnings, or failed to adjust your treatment plan, that failure may support a medical product liability or negligence claim.

Proving Negligence in Texas PPHN Cases

To succeed in a PPHN malpractice case in Texas, you must prove that the medical provider deviated from the accepted standard of care—such as failing to perform a timely C-section or mismanaging medication—and that this deviation directly caused or worsened your child’s condition. The accepted standard of care refers to the level of care a competent medical professional would provide under similar circumstances.

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 74 governs medical malpractice claims. This law requires an expert report early in the case to support the allegations. Our team works with qualified medical experts who can review the records and provide expert testimony on whether the provider met the standard.

Here is what we examine when building a PPHN negligence case:

• Failure to monitor: Were signs of fetal distress, a condition indicating the baby is not receiving enough oxygen, or abnormal patterns detected through electronic fetal monitoring (EFM), identified and acted on in time? EFM is a technology that continuously tracks the baby’s heart rate during labor.
• Medication errors: Was the mother prescribed SSRIs or NSAIDs during the third trimester without proper risk counseling or follow-up monitoring?
• Delayed treatment: Once the infant showed signs of respiratory distress or cyanosis after birth, did the medical team respond with appropriate urgency?
• Failure to escalate: Were neonatology consults or NICU transfers initiated when the baby’s condition worsened?

As a Texas Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension Lawyer, Hastings Law Firm reconstructs the clinical timeline from labor through delivery and postnatal care to identify where breakdowns occurred. Our in-house nursing staff and former defense attorneys know exactly what to look for in the medical records.

Recoverable Damages for Long-Term PPHN Complications

Compensation in PPHN cases covers both economic losses, such as past and future medical bills for NICU stays and therapies, and non-economic damages like pain, suffering, and physical impairment. Pursuing economic losses helps families secure the resources needed to cover the lifelong financial impact of a medical error.

Children who survive severe PPHN may face developmental delays, cognitive problems, neurological problems, and in some cases, conditions like cerebral palsy due to prolonged oxygen deprivation. Non-economic damages represent the human cost of an injury, acknowledging the long-term impact on the child’s quality of life.

A PPHN malpractice attorney will work with experts to create a life care plan to calculate the full scope of your child’s future needs. A life care plan is a document that outlines every medical and non-medical resource the patient will require throughout their life.

Recoverable damages may include:

• Past and current medical costs: NICU care, ECMO treatment, surgeries, and hospitalizations
• Future medical needs: Ongoing therapy for developmental delays, specialty appointments, adaptive equipment, and long-term neurological care
• Educational support: Special education services, tutoring, and behavioral therapy
• Non-economic damages: The child’s pain and suffering, physical impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life
• Parental claims: Mental anguish and loss of companionship experienced by the family

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

PPHN can change the course of a child’s life and place enormous emotional and financial pressure on a family. Legal support for birth injuries focuses on securing the resources needed for lifelong care and therapeutic support.

Our team of attorneys, nurse consultants, and medical experts will review your records, identify what went wrong, and build a case designed to protect your child’s future. We operate on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay no attorney fees or costs unless we recover compensation for your family.

You do not have to face this alone. Contact a Texas Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension Lawyer at Hastings Law Firm today for a free, confidential case evaluation. Let us help you take the first step toward understanding what happened and holding the responsible parties accountable.