1st Baby Formula NEC Trial Ends in $60 Million Award to Parents

March 15, 2024 — A jury has awarded $60 million in the 1st trial for a baby who died after being fed cow’s milk-based Enfamil infant formula in the hospital.

The lawsuit was filed by the parents of a premature baby who was fed Enfamil infant formula in the hospital. Tragically, he quickly developed a deadly intestinal infection called Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC).

The jurors heard from a dozen neonatologists who testified for both sides, the parents and also the formula manufacturers. All of the experts agreed that cow’s milk-based infant formulas are linked to an increased risk of NEC compared to human breastmilk.

The jury spent less than 2 hours deliberating before awarding the parents $60 million, which was $25 million more than what they had originally sought from the manufacturers.

Mead Johnson and Abott Laboratories are currently facing hundreds of lawsuits involving babies who were diagnosed with NEC after being fed cow’s milk-based formulas in the hospital.

All of these lawsuits accuse the formula-makers of failing to adequately warn parents and doctors about the increased risk of NEC. Instead, the manufacturers actually advertised their cow’s milk-based formulas specifically for premature infants in the NICU.

More than 400 baby formula lawsuits for NEC are currently centralized in a Multi-District Litigation (MDL) under U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer in the Northern District of Illinois.

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