chandas Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Many colleagues would be aware of the recent lawsuit in Illinois against Mead Johnson alleging Enamel causing NEC in a preterm baby which the US Court found in the family's favour with an award of $60 million. Whilst the allegation that any cow's milk-based formula CAUSES NEC (rather than saying that human milk protects against NEC) may not be widely held view here, I wondered if colleagues are seeing any fallout from this lawsuit. Clearly this would raise parental concerns and the professionals would find it difficult to recommend any cow's milk-based formula for a preterm baby if the mother can not or does not wish to provide her own breast milk. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gustaf Lernfelt Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Adding some links for context: Reckitt charged with $60 million verdict: https://www.reuters.com/legal/reckitt-unit-hit-with-60-million-verdict-enfamil-baby-formula-case-illinois-2024-03-14/ The legal turns: https://www.law.com/2024/03/14/mead-johnson-hit-with-60m-verdict-in-first-nec-trial-over-preterm-infant-formula/?slreturn=20240224133119 As I’ve understood it they are fined for not warning about the increased risk for NEC compared to breast milk. As for breast milk, there are a number of ways to set up programmes for donor breast milk, wouldn’t that be the most reasonable approach? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Johansson Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Thanks for sharing this @chandas - NEC is such a terrible disease but law suits like this one is just a sign of cynism IMHO, lawyers "milking" the system so to say. You raise an important question, would be interesting to hear from US staff about the implications of this law suit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimal Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 The ICU in question appears to be licensed only to care for babies >32 weeks on CPAP or lower respiratory support. Based on my best inference from various articles, he was born in 2020 or 2021 and transferred from a high risk perinatal center as a 10-12 day old ex-31 to 31 6/7 week twin boy, probably on CPAP or HFNC, probably on full enteral feeds. It is unclear if he was transitioned to formula feeds at the birth hospital or upon transfer to the local unit. There is probably significant variation in when babies are transitioned to formula feeds both internationally and within the US, but in my experience in multiple regions of the USA, transitioning at ~33weeks corrected is not unusual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manohar Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 34 minutes ago, Bimal said: The ICU in question appears to be licensed only to care for babies >32 weeks on CPAP or lower respiratory support. Based on my best inference from various articles, he was born in 2020 or 2021 and transferred from a high-risk perinatal center as a 10–12-day old ex-31 to 31 6/7 week twin boy, probably on CPAP or HFNC, probably on full enteral feeds. It is unclear if he was transitioned to formula feeds at the birth hospital or upon transfer to the local unit. There is probably significant variation in when babies are transitioned to formula feeds both internationally and within the US, but in my experience in multiple regions of the USA, transitioning at ~33weeks corrected is not unusual. Before transition enteral feed than breast milk, the GIT has to be primed before any non-breast milk enteral feed, as non-priming increases the risk of NEC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Johansson Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 2 hours ago, Manohar said: Before transition enteral feed than breast milk, the GIT has to be primed before any non-breast milk enteral feed, as non-priming increases the risk of NEC. Still, medical care is about balancing benefits and risks. When preterm infants are fed formula, the other alternative is not always breast milk (being unavailable), so there would be no “choice”. IMHO this legal case is just a bad example of a legal culture with few, if any, benefits. I sincerely hope we will never see anything of this in Europe. BTW, we also transition to formula around 32-33 weeks if there is insufficient mother’s own milk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atul Patel Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Interesting, this litigation was bound to happen one day. In the unit I work in, we do not use formula feds for preterm babies. We have not had a case of NEC since change of the policy. Majority of the babies are fed mothers own milk (MOM). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Johansson Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 Good article in Washington Post about this topic! with these law suits (and several more Seems to come up), there can be significant ”collateral damage” for infants. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jul/2/tort-bars-newest-collateral-damage-preterm-babies/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr talal Posted September 13 Share Posted September 13 I've read here that there are many lawsuits filed against the manufacturers of Similac and Enfamil. It appears they may have ignored the risks associated with these products for decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gustaf Lernfelt Posted October 12 Share Posted October 12 Don’t miss out on Neena Modi and Josef Neus recent commentary on the subject 🙂 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2824556?guestAccessKey=d560b308-01e0-4d52-b7d3-ca56cfe6a51d&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social_jamapeds&utm_term=14866058877&utm_campaign=article_alert&linkId=617958502 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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