A Maryland resident recently filed a lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, alleging that the company’s baby powder product directly led to her ovarian cancer diagnosis.

The plaintiff, Coriena W., alleges that she used Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder for a period of around fifty years for feminine hygiene, from 1964 until 2014. Coriena used the baby powder according to the instructions for use.

Unfortunately, Coriena ended up developing ovarian cancer. The plaintiff was given her ovarian cancer diagnosis in June 2014. As a result, she has undergone various cancer treatments.

Coriena claims that her ovarian cancer diagnosis was directly caused by her use of Johnson & Johnson baby powder. She therefore decided to file a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson for failing to give adequate warning about the serious risks of continuous use of its baby powder products.

Coriena filed her baby powder lawsuit on Nov. 6, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. The lawsuit was filed on multiple counts, including failure to warn, defective design, negligence, breach of express and implied warranties, civil conspiracy, fraudulent misrepresentation, and several others.

Link Between Baby Powder and Ovarian Cancer

Baby powder, like the popular Shower-to-Shower product from Johnson & Johnson, has been widely used for years. Baby powder is not just used on babies but is also marketed for adult use. Johnson & Johnson has actively marketed its baby powder product as a feminine hygiene product, and countless women have used it in this very manner.

Unfortunately, a growing number of women who use baby powder for feminine hygiene purposes are being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Some have begun filing lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson, claiming that by marketing the product as safe and effective as a feminine hygiene product, the company misrepresented the actual safety of its product.

A link between baby powder products and ovarian cancer has serious ramifications for thousands, since generations of women have made baby powder part of their daily routine for decades.

Ovarian Cancer Basics

According to the National Cancer Institute, ovarian cancer and similar or related cancers are the fifth leading cause of cancer fatalities in United States for women. There are very few early symptoms of ovarian cancer, so this disease is usually not discovered until much later, in the last stages of the cancer. At that point, there is not much that can be done to stop the disease, and it becomes much more dangerous.

This delay in discovery causes the fatality rate of ovarian cancer to soar, given that treatment is so much less effective in later stages.

Filing a Baby Powder Lawsuit

If you or someone you love has used Johnson & Johnson’s Shower to Shower or a similar baby powder product, especially as part of a regular hygiene routine, and have been given an ovarian cancer diagnosis, you may be able to file a baby powder lawsuit.

While filing a baby powder lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering of ovarian cancer, and cannot bring a loved one back to life, it can help to alleviate the financial burden caused by medical expenses and lost wages.

The Ovarian Cancer Diagnosis Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-03275-GLR, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.