Did your premature baby develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) after being fed Similac or Enfamil?
The NEC baby formula recall has led to numerous people coming forward to claim their child has suffered due to exposure to Cronobacteria and NEC. There are many such pending lawsuits throughout the U.S. You have a right to demand justice for your child.
Has your baby suffered an otherwise unexplained illness and was drinking powdered baby formula?You may be entitled to significant compensation. Contact us today for your free case review.
In 2022, a recall was issued for powdered baby formula from manufacturer Abbott Laboratories due to the potential of the formula containing a germ called Cronobacter sakazakii. This is a substance that, when ingested by very young babies or those with a weakened immune system, can lead to the onset of a range of health conditions, including the onset of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). This disease can cause significant health risks for children, often requiring hospitalization, and in some situations, it can be fatal.
Some of those impacted may not know their child had this exposure.
The most recent outbreak of this germ was found in powdered baby formula. These children were found to have NEC from September 20, 2021, to February 24, 2022, which resulted in hospitalization and death in two of the four cases. Investigations by the CDC are still pending to determine if the illness was directly related to the products produced by Abbott Laboratories in its Sturgis, MI, manufacturing plant.
Has your child suffered due to the baby formula risk? MedicalVictims.org wants to help you.
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a type of intestinal disease that causes an inflammatory reaction that can lead to damage to the intestinal tissue. It typically impacts infants that are premature or medically fragile. This condition can occur due to the presence of Cronobacter sakazakii, though there are other causes for NEC. Many children with this illness do not know the underlying cause; in some cases, it could be from the food they consume.
Recently, Cronobacter was found in infant formula, leading to a recall of Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare powdered formula products. This caused four children to suffer the NEC disease, leading to 2 deaths. The exposures were reported in Minnesota, Texas, and Ohio. The determination of the presence of Cronobacter in the powdered baby formula led to a significant recall. It could also indicate that other children have exposure.
Could your child have contracted NEC from formula?
Even if your child’s doctor did not state they had Cronobacter, they could have. If your child consumed powdered formula, let us provide you with insight into if your child could have suffered due to the presence of this bacteria.
Parents of premature babies who were fed formula in the hospital are filing Similac lawsuits against manufacturer Abbott Laboratories, and Enfamil lawsuits against manufacturer Mead Johnson, for failing to warn parents and medical providers about the risks associated with their baby formulas.
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe gastrointestinal condition that primarily affects premature and medically fragile infants, according to the NEC Society. It causes intestinal inflammation that results in serious complications, and although many babies fully recover, NEC can cause lifelong neurological and nutritional complications or death.
Research since the 1990s reports that premature babies fed with cow milk-based baby formulas were at a significantly higher risk of developing NEC than those fed human milk exclusively, and that the risks were lower in breastfed babies than those fed a combination of human milk and formula.
Many medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed against the doctors who prescribed Similac and Enfamil, and families have won significant verdicts and settlements as a result. Now, an increasing number of parents are filing product liability lawsuits and suing the manufacturers for producing toxic baby formulas.
Parents are claiming that Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson knew or should have known about the potential risks associated with their products, specifically the component of cow’s milk called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) that could cause NEC, sepsis, failure to thrive or other dangers to premature infants. They also argue that the companies failed to learn more about the potential dangers of their products and neglected to warn the public, despite warnings from influential medical groups.
Plaintiffs also argue that Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson marketed their products as safe and beneficial for premature infants in spite of the potential risks, have no warnings about NEC as a side effect of baby formula and do not offer proper instructions or guidelines for their products’ use.
Abbot Laborites and Mead Johnson deny these formulas cause NEC and other complications. They claim gastrointestinal disease is “naturally occurring” and can develop in premature babies who are fed breast milk. They also argue that claims regarding premature infant formulas are not permitted by the Infant Formula Act, established in 1980 to assure all infant formula is nutritionally adequate.
The following are baby formula brands named in Similac and Enfamil lawsuits:
Did your premature baby develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) after being fed Similac or Enfamil?
Common types of compensation, or damages, plaintiffs are seeking in baby formula lawsuits include:
In order to be eligible to file or join a Similac or Enfamil baby formula lawsuit, you must meet the following criteria:
No, your child does not have to have received an NEC diagnosis to have a valid product liability claim against the baby formula manufacturers of Similac and Enfamil. In addition to NEC, parents of a child who received Similac and Enfamil can seek compensation through a baby formula lawsuit for damages due to other illnesses, infection or wrongful death, due to any of the symptoms or side effects listed above.
Each state has its own statute of limitations for each type of lawsuit, which determines how much time you have to file a lawsuit from the date of the incident. Most formula lawsuits against the manufacturer will be product liability lawsuits. Most U.S. states have a statute of limitation for product liability cases between two to 10 years, with the majority being two-year statutes.
In the case of a wrongful death lawsuit, the statute of limitations may be different than that of product liability cases. Generally, most states average a two-year statute of limitations for this type of lawsuit.
The start of your window to file a case depends on the individual facts of your case. An experienced attorney can help you determine the best course of action based on their assessment of the evidence and your state’s statutes.
Can I Join a Similac Class Action Lawsuit?
As of now, most product liability cases for baby formula damages are individual cases. Multi-district litigation (MDL) lawsuits do not yet exist for baby powder lawsuits, though this could change as more cases are filed and likely to be consolidated.
Your attorney can review your claim and advise the best legal options available based on active litigation, precedent and the facts of your case when you are filing a lawsuit.
Product liability lawsuits could take months or even years depending on the litigation strategy of your legal team and each side’s willingness to reach a settlement.
Lawsuits for toxic baby formula, in which the plaintiff seeks to hold the manufacturer or other defendant(s) liable for health problems resulting from their unreasonably dangerous or defective product, are often complex cases. A lengthy discovery phase is often required to allow all sides to collect evidence to support their claims. For the plaintiff, this includes a full, clear and complete diagnosis of the health problems caused by the toxic baby formula, for which a medical provider will need to have determined is the result of the product, as well as a full picture of the plaintiff’s losses. This includes, but may not be limited to, current and future medical treatment, lost wages or diminished earning capacity and physical and mental pain and suffering.
The length of time a baby formula lawsuit continues is how quickly the plaintiff and defendant can reach a settlement agreement. This can happen at any time during the lawsuit. Choosing to settle or resolve the case prematurely could result in the plaintiff not receiving fair and completed compensation for damages.
An experienced and qualified attorney can evaluate each individual case and whether or when to accept a settlement throughout the litigation process. They can also recommend the expectations of a verdict in their client’s favor if the case continues to trial.
Much of the NEC infant formula litigation is still in the beginning phases, so it is unclear how much these settlement amounts will be or when they can be expected to be paid. If a judge or jury determines manufacturers put profit over the health and safety of premature infants, there is a strong possibility for both large compensation amounts, as well as punitive damage awards.
Manufacturers such as Mead Johnson and Abbott Laboratories are concerned about large verdicts that will set the precedent for settlement compensation payouts, as well as the damage to these companies’ public reputations, as these lawsuits continue to emerge and grow.
As of October 2022, there has been significant movement in establishing the schedule and protocol for the selection of bellwether test cases in the formula NEC class action lawsuit. Plaintiffs and defendants have provided a judge with a list of 66 pending cases that the court could randomly select from to become the first NEC lawsuit to go to trial.
A group of 12 bellwether discovery cases will be selected from this group to undergo pretrial discovery phase. From there, a group of four cases will be picked for initial bellwether test trials. The plaintiffs and defendants will each select four cases, and the court will randomly select the remaining four cases for this group of 12. This is slated to be completed by November 23, 2022.
Once the discovery phase is complete, four of the 12 cases will be chosen for the initial bellwether test trials. The plaintiffs and defendants will each select two cases. The four bellwether trials will be held 12 weeks apart, alternating between cases selected by the plaintiffs and the defendants.
Did your premature baby develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) after being fed Similac or Enfamil?
Did your premature baby develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) after being fed Similac or Enfamil?
Enfamil and Similac have not been recalled for the link between baby formula and NEC. But there have been isolated store recalls as a result of product tampering and there was a February 2022 recall for potential bacterial infection.
The tampering incident came to light when a few mothers reported that their Enfamil products contained flour instead of formula. In another incident, babies got sick and some died after drinking Enfamil that reportedly caused bacterial infections. The FDA tested the formula and declared it safe.
In February 2022, Abbott Nutrition issued a baby formula recall for certain lots of Similac, EleCare and Alimentum manufactured at its Sturgis, Michigan, facility after four babies suffered Cronobacter sakazakii infections and one baby became infected with Salmonella Newport. Two of the babies died.
The FDA released a preliminary inspection report in March 2022 that said that Abbott didn’t have “a system of process controls” in place to “ensure that infant formula does not become adulterated due to the presence of microorganisms.”
In June 2022, FDA received an additional report of an infant death that could be related to bacterial contamination. The same month, Abbott’s Sturgis plant reopened to help ease the baby formula shortage caused in part by the recall.
Is your premature baby suffering from necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) after being fed Similac or Enfamil?
There is no doubt that for some children, the use of formula is necessary, especially if the mother is unable to produce breastmilk for any reason. However, numerous organizations are encouraging mothers to try to use breast milk or breastfeed instead of using formula. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services states that human milk is safer for children. There are a number of local milk banks that are helping to supply breastmilk to babies whose mothers cannot provide it. This includes the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.
The American Academy of Pediatrics also has stepped forward to state that children should consume breastmilk for the first six months of their life. Though they did not outright say not to use formula products, they stressed the value and nutritional benefits of human breastmilk over other products.
The NEC baby formula recall has led to numerous people coming forward to claim their child has suffered due to exposure to Cronobacteria and NEC. There are many such pending lawsuits throughout the U.S. You will not see settlements from these lawsuits right now (as of September of 2022) due to most cases just being brought to court. This is due to just how new the information is.
Keep in mind that if your child has suffered an NEC infection due to Cronobacter infection, you can be a part of these legal actions. Your first step is to have a legal case review to determine if you qualify. There is no cost or risk to you in that process.
As a fast-moving situation, there are weekly changes to the lawsuits and legal proceedings related to the NEC baby formula recall and deaths.
The latest information available (September of 2022) indicates that multidistrict litigation panels are working to align cases with the proper judges. Since there are cases throughout the U.S., both Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson have asked for the creation of federal multidistrict litigation so that all cases and current class action lawsuits can be moved under one judge. As of this writing, there are two separate litigation districts in place, one under U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly based in Chicago, Illinois, and one that contains 97 lawsuits and claims under U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer.
What are they claiming?
There are several specific types of legal actions being made against these baby formula manufacturers. The first is that the companies had the responsibility to create a safe product for their children to use, and they did not do so. These parents and attorneys believe that the negligence in doing this led to their children suffering medical losses due to their exposure to the germs as well as to NEC in general. Many of these children spent time in the hospital, and there are some reporting their child died from NEC that could be linked to powdered formula.
Other lawsuits focus on the risks associated with cow’s milk formulas. They claim that the manufacturers knew that there was a high risk that products made from cow’s milk are at a high level of risk for the presence of Cronobacter and that the manufacturers failed to provide warnings of that risk or to give families an alternative solution to it. They believe that their children suffered as a result of this.
What could happen now?
There is a lot of work for attorneys to do to collect data on each of the cases involving baby formula exposure to Cronobacter. Many attorneys are seeing dozens of cases being reported over the last few months and expect to continue to see them develop in the coming months through the middle of 2023.
What you need to know about those lawsuits
If your child suffered from any type of loss related to Cronobacter infections and they were using powdered baby formula, especially from these two manufacturers, it is critical to seek out immediate help from an attorney to protect your child’s rights to compensation. Many of these children suffered long-term results neurologically and nutritionally as a result of these infections. Many parents don’t even know what caused their child’s NEC.
You have a right to demand justice for your child.
When you join the many, you do not have to pay anything. We will provide you with a way to gather information about your case and then provide a review to determine if you should move forward seeing legal support. Many parents are finding this to be a critical step. We can help you to connect to an attorney that specializes in these cases. This can help you to get fast help so that your child’s losses can be a component of the class action lawsuits occurring. You can make sure that manufacturers do not allow this same loss to happen to other children. Key is your ability and willingness to take action now.
If you believe you have a qualifying case, we are here to provide a free, no-obligation case review to determine if you may be eligible for a settlement. If you are, we’ll carefully match you with the best attorney for your case. There are no legal fees unless you win compensation. Contact us today to get started.
For more information on NEC, Cornobacter sakazakii infections, and baby formula recalls, turn to the following trusted sources:
Financial benefits may be available through a NEC lawsuit payout if your premature baby developed necrotizing enterocolitis from toxic baby formula given in the NICU.
We are currently pursuing NEC settlements for families with babies who:
Find out if your family is eligible for a toxic baby formula NEC lawsuit payout by filling out the form on this page or call our office toll-free at 1-800-759-6941
There are no fees or expenses unless we win your NEC lawsuit
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