A lawsuit filed in Davidson County Chancery Court seeks compensation on behalf of six babies born to mothers addicted to opioids. It’s the latest in a string of similar suits across the state, including one that has resulted in a settlement.
These lawsuits go after manufacturers and distributors of opioids, just like the national litigation on behalf of states and cities that has resulted in a $26 billion settlement. But these suits on behalf of specific children, now ages 2 to 8, result in money that goes directly to help them through a guardian ad litem.
“We are fighting for the individual who has been harmed so they can get compensated for help for what they’re going to deal with moving forward,” says Tricia Herzfeld of Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings, the lead attorney on the case filed Aug. 3.
Herzfeld won a settlement in a similar case in Sullivan County. The terms have not been disclosed. She also has pending litigation for babies in Campbell and Putnam counties and says there are more cases waiting to be filed.
The Davidson County babies were all born with neonatal abstinence syndrome because their mothers were on opioids, which meant they were born dependent on narcotics and in withdrawal. NAS has immediate complications that usually result in several extra days in the hospital, often in a neonatal intensive care unit.
But aside from weening the babies from morphine, there is also evidence that these kids have more developmental delays, vision and hearing problems and behavioral issues. From 2014 to 2017, there were more than a thousand diagnosed NAS cases each year in Tennessee, though that figure has dropped a bit recently.
Herzfeld says she thinks a formal NAS diagnosis at birth isn’t required to make a claim in court.
“There’s been different criteria as to what’s considered NAS, as people have understood more about the opioid epidemic,” she says. “Anyone who thinks they have a child who was born on opioids should certainly give us a call.”
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