Similac Lawsuit Filed Over Premature Infant’s Necrotizing Enterocolitis Death

A New Jersey mother alleges in a recent Similac necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) lawsuit that Abbott Laboratories’ cow’s milk-based infant formula caused the death of her premature daughter, who was fed the formula while in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) at Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, New Jersey. According to this lawsuit and others, cow’s milk-based infant formulas like Similac and Enfamil are aggressively marketed to parents and caregivers, with no warnings about the potential for these products to increase the risk of NEC and death in premature infants. If your child was born premature and developed NEC after being fed Similac or Enfamil baby formula in the NICU or at home, contact Consumer Safety Watch today. You may qualify for financial compensation to cover your medical expenses and other losses, which you can pursue by filing an Enfamil or Similac NEC lawsuit against the formula manufacturer.

Similac Formulas, Fortifiers Lead to Infant’s NEC Death

In this latest Similac NEC lawsuit, filed by Nicole Cresap in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on April 15, the plaintiff alleges that Abbott’s cow’s milk-based formulas and fortifiers led to the death of her premature baby, referred to in the complaint as Baby Kennedy. According to the wrongful death lawsuit, Baby Kennedy was born extremely prematurely, at a low birth weight of 1 lb 9 oz, and was subsequently placed in the NICU at the Morristown Medical Center. While in the NICU, she was fed breastmilk, along with Similac Human Milk Fortifier and Abbott Nutrition Liquid Protein Fortifier, which are aggressively marketed as “additives” to fortify human breastmilk and aid in the growth and nutrition of premature infants. Baby Kennedy was eventually “transitioned” to formula by the NICU staff and was fed Similac Special Care 24 High Protein and Similac Special Care 30 High Protein formula products manufactured by Abbott.

On March 14, 2022, at about 2.5 months of age, Baby Kennedy suffered an acute abdominal crisis caused by necrotizing enterocolitis, “a deadly disease that largely affects low birth-weight babies who are fed cow’s-milk-based formula or products,” and required surgery to have her intestines removed from her abdominal cavity. Ultimately, Baby Kennedy suffered multi-system organ failure, cardiac arrest, and death. The complaint states that Baby Kennedy’s caregivers, including Nicole Cresap, had no knowledge that Similac infant formulas and fortifier products could increase the baby’s risk of developing NEC. “Despite many years of premature infants developing NEC or dying after being fed Defendant’s products, parents remain completely in the dark as to the cause of their child’s injury or loss and are not told of the abundance of data linking Defendant’s products to NEC and/or death,” the lawsuit states.

Baby Formula Aggressively Marketed to Parents of Premature Babies

Abbott and other infant formula manufacturers have for years aggressively marketed their cow’s milk-based formulas and fortifiers as safe and even essential to the proper growth and nutrition of premature infants. What most parents and caregivers don’t know is that these products may actually jeopardize the health of premature infants and can substantially increase their chances of developing NEC and dying, a risk Abbott and others were aware of or should have been aware of. “Defendant failed to properly warn parents and medical providers that cow’s milk-based formula and fortifier products, including the Products, can significantly increase the risk that the premature infant will develop NEC, require surgery, and/or die,” Cresap’s lawsuit states. “[Defendant also] failed to design products to make them safe, and deceived the public, parents, physicians, and medical staff into believing that the products were a safe and necessary alternative and/or supplement to and/or substitute for human milk.”

Contact Consumer Safety Watch for Help

Cresap’s complaint joins a growing number of NEC and wrongful death lawsuits brought against the makers of Similac and Enfamil baby formula products, all of which involve similar allegations that manufacturers failed to warn parents, caregivers, and the medical community about cow’s milk-based formula side effects leading to necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants. Plaintiffs allege that the deadly intestinal disease could have been avoided had they used breastmilk, donor milk, or alternative formulas that are not made with cow’s milk. If your child died or suffered complications from NEC after being fed Similac, Enfamil or another cow’s milk-based baby formula in the hospital or at home, you may qualify for a baby formula NEC lawsuit. Contact Consumer Safety Watch as soon as possible to discuss whether you are eligible to file a claim.