Premature babies often need extra nutrition to support their undeveloped bodies and offset their initial low birth weight. Many doctors will recommend using formula to the parents, but recent evidence suggests that some brands of formula can cause infants to develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a potentially deadly digestive condition. To make matters worse, some of the manufacturers of baby formula, Abbott Laboratories, and Mead Johnson & Company, never added a warning label of their product, causing more unsuspecting parents to put their children at risk.
Abbott Laboratories and Mead Johnson & Company have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their products prior to sale. As a result of their negligence, families all over have had to deal with losing their children to what they thought was a safe product.
NEC is a serious inflammatory condition of intestinal tissue. It can advance to necrosis and, in some cases, perforation develops that can allow bacteria to leak into the abdomen or bloodstream through the hole. Infants with NEC are also at risk for:
- Longer hospital stays
- Abdominal infection
- A narrowed intestine that makes digestion difficult
- Short bowel syndrome, which can make it hard to absorb fluids and nutrients
- Growth failure, developmental delays, and poor neurodevelopmental outcomes
- Systemic sepsis
- Organ failure
- Death
Necrotizing enterocolitis is a digestive disease that occurs primarily in premature infants and can cause inflammation of the intestinal lining, which can lead to serious infections. In such cases, the inflamed intestinal wall is eventually eroded away, which allows bacteria to enter the intestinal tract and jeopardize the health of the infant. The medical professional in charge of your infant’s care should monitor for the following symptoms:
- Swollen, red, or tender stomach
- Abdominal pressure
- Diarrhea
- Fluctuations in temperature
- Abnormal breathing
- Low blood pressure
Most infants survive the disease with serious, long-term injuries, but in more extreme cases infants may pass away.
Toxic Baby Formula Products:
Abbott Laboratories sells the following types of infant formula:
- Similac
- Similac Special Care
- Similac Human Milk
- Fortifier
- Similac NeoSure
- Similac Alimentum
- Similac Human Milk Fortifier
- Similac Liquid Protein
- Fortifier
- And more
Mead Johnson & Co. sells the following types of infant formula:
- Enfamil
- Enfamil NeuroPro EnfaCare Infant Formula
- Enfamil Premature Infant Formula 24 Cal High Protein
- Enfamil Premature Infant Formula 30 Cal with Iron
- Enfamil Premature Infant Formula 24 Cal with Iron
- Enfamil Premature Infant Formula 20 Cal with Iron
- Enfamil Human Milk Fortifier
- And more
If your newborn child was fed cow-milk-based baby formula in the hospital, or the hospital gave you an unsafe baby formula product to take home, and your child was diagnosed with and suffered with NEC or died due to NEC, you could be eligible to join the lawsuit. As of now, multiple lawsuits have been filed by parents after their children developed necrotizing enterocolitis after using either Similac or Enfamil.
If your child has developed NEC or has passed away as a result of toxic baby formula, contact the office of Chhabra Gibbs & Herrington PLLC for a free consultation. For a free confidential consultation with Mass Tort & Class Action Lawyers at our law firm, please call 601-948-8005 or use our live chat.
