Is Accutane a teratogen?

The infant plaintiff in Paxton v. Ramji claimed that her mother’s doctor was negligent in prescribing Accutane to her mother for the treatment of acne and thus causing the plaintiff’s considerable birth defects. Accutane is a teratogen (known to cause birth defects), and the defendant doctor accordingly conducted a pregnancy test before prescribing it, and counselled the mother, who was 25 years of age at the time and had three other children, about the importance of not becoming pregnant while taking Accutane. The mother’s husband had had a vasectomy 4½ years earlier, and the mother had no other sexual partners. However, about one month after the mother started on Accutane, her husband’s vasectomy failed, and the infant plaintiff was conceived, then to develop considerable damage as a result of the Accutane.