Enfamil death overview:
- Who: A jury awarded Plaintiff Jasmine Watson $60 million in a lawsuit over Enfamil baby formula.
- Why: Watson’s son, Chance Dean, died from necrotizing enterocolitis after consuming Enfamil’s cow’s milk-based infant feeding products as a premature infant.
- Where: The Enfamil verdict came in circuit court in St. Clair County, Illinois.
A jury awarded Plaintiff Jasmine Watson $60 million as a representative of her late son, Chance Dean, after he died from necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) following consuming Enfamil formula.
The jury found Enfamil maker Mead Johnson guilty of negligence and failure to warn but ruled Enfamil’s product did not have a design defect, according to court documents.
The jury awarded $35 million for loss of society; $10 million for grief, sorrow and suffering; and $5 million apiece for the loss of Dean’s normal life, his emotional distress and his pain and suffering.
Infants who contract NEC die 30% of time, Enfamil lawsuit says
NEC is a disease that mainly affects premature babies who consume cow’s milk-based feeding products, the lawsuit says. It causes bacteria to breach the intestine walls, causing inflammation and possible death.
NEC can progress rapidly from mild feeding intolerance to fatal sepsis with up to 30% of NEC-diagnosed infants dying, according to the lawsuit.
“This verdict confirms what Mead Johnson has known for years: cow’s-milk based baby formula causes NEC in preterm infants, often with fatal consequences,” Ben Whiting, one of Watson’s attorneys, says in a statement. “The jury validated what every reasonable person thinks: Abbott and Mead’s baby formula should not kill babies.”
In 2022, Mead Johnson & Co. agreed to a now-closed $8.4 million false advertising class action lawsuit settlement to resolve claims it inflated the number of bottles its Enfamil baby formula products could make.
Have you fed your baby Enfamil cow’s milk-based formula? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by Ashley Keller and Ben Whiting of Keller Postman LLC; Eric D. Holland, Robert J. Evola and Ann E. Callis of Holland Law Firm LLC; and David Cates of Cates Mahoney LLC.
The Enfamil verdict is related to Watson, et al. v. Mead Johnson & Company LLC, Case No. 2021L1032, in the Circuit Court of the 20th Judicial District in St. Clair County, Illinois.
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2 thoughts onJury awards $60M verdict to mother in Enfamil infant death
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Yes my grand daughter died after been feed this milk mix with Breast milk. She was doing good until after they feed her. We kept asking why does her stomach blow up so big when they feed her. She was a 14 days old premature baby.