Ozempic Side Effects Caused Stomach Paralysis and Severe Abdominal Pain, Lawsuit Claims

Lawsuit notes that a Mississippi man’s gastrointestinal problems continued long after he stopped injections of the diabetes and weight loss drug.

After suffering severe nausea, vomiting and gastroparesis, a Mississippi man has filed a lawsuit indicating manufacturers failed to provide users or the medical community with adequate warnings about the potential risk that they may experience these Ozempic side effects.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Benny Shumpert in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on April 10, naming Novo Nordisk as the defendant.

Ozempic (semaglutide) is a type 2 diabetes treatment, and part of a popular class of similar medications, known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, which also includes Mounjaro, Wegovy, Zepbound, Victoza, Trulicity and other. Amid growing promotion of the weight loss benefits, the popularity of Ozempic and other GLP-1 medications has skyrocketed in recent years.

Although the drug has been promoted as safe and effective, with few long-term side effects, Ozempic has been linked to severe gastrointestinal issues, such as stomach paralysis (gastroparesis), ileus, abdominal obstructions and other adverse effects.

Now, thousands of former users like Shumpert are pursuing Ozempic lawsuits, Wegovy lawsuits and Mounjaro lawsuits, each presenting similar allegations that users were left with painful and debilitating stomach problems, which could have been avoided if the drug makers had not provided false and misleading information to patients and the medical community.

According to Shumpert’s complaint, he was prescribed Ozempic injections in August 2021, for the treatment of his type 2 diabetes.

After experiencing Ozempic side effects like abdominal pain, bloating and nausea, Shumpert underwent a Gastric Emptying Study in April 2022, where it was confirmed that he was suffering from gastroparesis, which occurs when the contents of the stomach are not properly moved into the small intestines.

“Plaintiff continues to experience symptoms of abdominal pain, gastroparesis, abdominal bloating, nausea and vomiting as a result of Ozempic,” the lawsuit states. “His life is forever changed because of his usage of Ozempic.”

Shumpert presents claims of negligence, failure to warn, design defect, negligent misrepresentation and marketing, fraudulent misrepresentation, and violations of Mississippi consumer protection and trade practice laws. He is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.

April 2025 Ozempic Lawsuits Update

Shumpert’s complaint will be consolidated with similar claims brought throughout the federal court system, as part of a GLP-1 lawsuit multidistrict litigation (MDL), which is centralized in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania under U.S. District Judge Karen Marston.

To help test how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be central throughout thousands of individual claims, Judge Marston is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings to prepare a small group of cases for early trial dates. 

However, before scheduling the first bellwether trials, the judge has tasked the parties with addressing a number of “cross-cutting” issues, including whether claims are preempted by federal law, whether plaintiffs are required to present specific diagnostic testing evidence to substantiate their injuries, and whether there is sufficient general causation evidence linking Ozempic and the gastrointestinal injuries.

While the outcomes of these early test cases will not be binding on other claims, they will be closely watched and may help the parties negotiate GLP-1 settlements to resolve large numbers of lawsuits in the future.