The parents of a little girl who was only 13 days old when she died after drinking contaminated infant formula last year, according to authorities, can now file a lawsuit against major manufacturer Abbott Nutrition.
Newborn Willow Jade Dellaquila of Kentucky died on Nov. 5, 2023, after being infected with a dangerous germ that caused a stroke on the right side of her brain, her mother said this week.
Records indicate that the deadly bacterium Cronobacter sakazakii can be traced back to a can of the milk powder mix Similac Total Comfort, which is used in baby bottles.
“It’s really heartbreaking,” said 25-year-old Cheyenne Ping.
“Nobody should have to go through this.”
Abbott was forced to close a plant in Sturgis, Michigan, in 2022 when inspections found widespread contamination at the facility following similar reports of infant deaths and illnesses.
Due to the temporary closure, parents were desperate to find baby food.
A judge in the state of Illinois ruled on Wednesday that Ping and little Willow’s father, Christian Dellaquila, 26, can file a lawsuit against Abbott.
The couple sought to join a lawsuit with two other families who claim their children suffered severe brain damage from Cronobacter sakazakii, which is linked to another type of Abbott formula, Similac Neosure.
However, the judge demanded that the three cases be tried separately for the time being.
The other lawsuits involve a baby in Missouri who became ill at six weeks of age in March 2023 and a four-week-old baby in Illinois who became infected with the bacteria in July 2021, authorities said.
Fortunately, both survived.
The lawsuits each demand at least $450,000 per family.
Willow had the infant formula manufactured at the Sturgis factory and sold at Walmart, more than a year after Abbott was placed under the control of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by court order.
The other infants drank infant formula from an Abbott factory in Arizona that, according to federal records, has also been under scrutiny in the past for allegedly dangerous conditions.
Abbott claimed there was no proven link between the product and the infections at the center of the lawsuits.
“No sealed product distributed from our facilities has tested positive for Cronobacter sakazakii and we do not believe these claims are valid,” Abbott said in an email.
The bacteria can be found in home kitchens, including sinks, worktops and even measuring spoons for baby formula.
The germ can also be found in factories, on equipment and elsewhere.
Although traces of Cronobacter were found in open cans of Abbott formula in Willow’s home – and were proven to be the cause of her infection – documents show that the same strain of bacteria was not detected in sealed cans of formula or in Abbott factories, federal officials said.
However, this does not prove that the products are free of contamination, said Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Center for Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University.
“A negative test result doesn’t tell you as much as a positive test result,” Kowalcyk said. “If the result is positive, you have a big problem. If the result is negative, you don’t know what’s going on.”
With post wires
