Adult Woman Files Similac Lawsuit Over NEC Injuries Experienced as a Newborn

A Pennsylvania woman who was born prematurely in 2006 has filed a Similac lawsuit against Abbott Laboratories, indicating that the infant formula caused her to develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) injuries, which still affect her to this day.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Sarah M. Osburn in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on August 26, indicating that the manufacturer withheld critical information from families and the medical communities about the risks associated with feeding the cow’s milk-based formula to premature babies

Osburn says that she received Similac shortly after birth, claiming that this caused her to develop NEC while still in the hospital. As a result of the NEC injuries, she required multiple surgeries as an infant and indicates that she has been left with severe, long-term health effects, which continue to require ongoing medical care 18 years later, even as she enters adulthood.

“Plaintiff’s mother was not informed that Defendant’s Cow’s Milk Products carried the risk of NEC,” the lawsuit states. “If Plaintiff’s mother had been informed that Defendant’s Cow’s Milk Products were associated with health risks, including NEC, she would not have allowed Plaintiff to be fed Defendants’ Cow’s Milk Products.”

The lawsuit points to a growing body of evidence that has established cow’s milk formulas dramatically raise the risk of NEC injuries for premature infants, including both Similac and competing Enfamil brands sold by Mead Johnson.

Osburn’s case joins more than 1,000 other Similac lawsuits and Enfamil lawsuits that are currently being pursued by families nationwide, each raising similar allegations that the manufacturers placed a desire for profit before the health and safety of babies, by providing false and misleading information about their cow’s milk-based formulas for years.

NEC is a life-threatening injury, which can occur when harmful bacteria breaches the walls of the intestines, causing portions of the tissue to become inflamed or die. The condition often results in the need for emergency surgery while the baby is still in the NICU, and many infants diagnosed with NEC infections do not survive.

For babies that do survive NEC, like Osburn, they often face life-long gastrointestinal injuries and other adverse health effects, which require continuing treatment and care.

“Defendants promote the use of their preterm infant Cow’s Milk Products to parents, physicians, hospitals, and medical providers as safe products that are specifically needed by preterm infants for adequate growth,” Osburn’s lawsuit states. “Despite the knowledge of the significant health risks posed to preterm infants ingesting the Cow’s Milk Products, including the significant risk of NEC and death, Defendants did not warn parents or medical providers of the risk of NEC, nor did Defendants provide any instructions or guidance on how to properly use its Cow’s Milk Products so as to lower the risk or avoid NEC or death.”

Osburn presents claims of design defect, negligence, failure to warn, and negligent misrepresentation, seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.

September 2024 Similac NEC Injury Lawsuit Update

This recent lawsuit was filed about a month after a St. Louis jury awarded $495 million to an Illinois mother whose newborn daughter suffered brain damage as a result of a Similac NEC injury.

While the outcome of that case will not have any binding impact on the complaints filed by Osburn and other individuals, it does provide a compelling signal about how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that may be repeated throughout the litigation.

While that trial was held at the state court level, the majority of Similac and Enfamil lawsuits are being pursued by U.S. families in the federal court system, where an infant formula MDL (multidistrict litigation) was established in 2022, centralizing the NEC injury claims before U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer in the Northern District of Illinois for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

As part of the management of the litigation, Judge Pallmeyer has established a “bellwether” program, where a group of 12 NEC lawsuits brought against the two infant formula manufacturers are going through case-specific discovery. The first federal NEC infant formula lawsuit bellwether trial is expected to begin on May 5, 2025.