NJ mom suing baby formula maker for wrongful death of baby

A New Jersey woman became the latest mother to sue Abbott Laboratories, blaming the baby formula maker for her premature baby’s death last year.

Nicole Cresap, whose infant daughter died in December, is suing Abbott Labs in US District Court in Chicago — home to the company’s Nutritional Products Division — over the company’s assertion that its Similac baby formula was safe for premature babies.

The suit claims that the company’s products could cause a bacterial illness — necrotizing enterocolitis — that is fatal in newborns, according to a report.

Cresap’s daughter, Kennedy Hayes, was placed in neonatal care at Morristown Medical Center at the end of December last year.

The baby, who weighed one pound and nine ounces, was at first placed on a combination of breast milk and formula, according to the report.

By February, she was fed on Similac Special Care 24 High Protein and 30 High Protein. A month later, the baby was diagnosed with NEC, a gastrointestinal disorder, and underwent surgery to remove her intestines, but suffered multi-system organ failure and cardiac arrest that led to her death, the suit states.

There are 16 lawsuits against Abbott across the country, according to US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.